Couldn't Be Easier... Well, it could

We've been composting now for 2 weeks and it couldn't be easier. Well... it could be, since Cambridge's pilot program for residents is a drop-off only program. And the recycling center is a 25 minute walk, on the other side of Central Square. So in that sense, it could be easier.

However, in terms of the collection of the compost-able material, it couldn't be easier. The small green bin is very small; as you can see, it's shorter than the top of our lowest drawer. The lid has a latch which keeps the lid closed. And although small, it is big enough for about a week's worth of scraps. And we create a good amount of scraps, since we cook at home EVERY night of the week.

The reason we started this was because of the brief clog in our kitchen sink, where we have a disposal. While we're pretty sure that the disposal is functional, we're not sure how the clog happened. So for the time-being, we're acting like the disposal is broken. Immediately after we un-clogged the sink, I became aware of the composting program, and so we switched over. We have a fairly good system going now. So I'm not sure when we'll determine what the clog's cause was.

Prior to switching over to the city's composting program, I learned about the negative impact organic material has when it's put into landfills. Sean's thought had always been that organic material helps other, slower-degrading material, breakdown. While that may be true, organic material releases methane gas, which apparently is significantly worse than carbon monoxide, and so it's much better to compost the scraps than throwing it away. Here's what the Cambridge Recycling website has to say about the hazards of food scraps in landfills:

By recycling food, we reduce methane emissions at landfills that result from decaying organic matter. Methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide! Our goal is to divert at least 400 pounds/week, avoiding about 20,000 pounds of CO2 per year. (The Works)

Anyway, Sean asked, last night, "If we had a working disposal, would we still compost?" And so that's what I set out to discover. And it looks like, as a result to my very limited research, that composting is still better than using your disposal. So much so that some communities, like Raleigh, NC, are banning in-sink disposals and instead encouraging composting. The expert, quoted in this Daily Green article, explains why composting is better than using a disposal:

For one thing, it saves water. For another, the nutrients rinsed down the kitchen sink aren't handled well by sewage treatment plants, and therefore end up entering local waterways. There, they spur harmful algae growth, which can crowd out other native species, and lead to poor water quality. (The Daily Green)

So, there it is.