Short Stories About Diverting Food Scraps
Submitted By: Many families - see below.

Challenge
Believe it or not, about 15-20% of all residential waste in California is food scraps. In 2005, just the Lamorinda communities sent more than 8,000 tons of food scraps to local landfills. If you do the math on this, it means that a family of four in Lamorinda can prevent more than 1000 pounds of food scraps from becoming rotting garbage in a landfill (each year), and instead become nutrient-rich soil amendment for themselves or farmers.

Besides reducing the volume of garbage sent to landfills, diverting food scraps from the garbage also helps prevent global warming. When food scraps and other organic material rot, it produces a potent greenhouse gas called methane. Methane is over 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.


Solution Details
The Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority (CCCSWA) introduced a new "Food Scraps Program" in September 2007, that allows you to put all types of food scraps in your green yard waste bin – along with your regular yard waste – for weekly pickup. Just about any food scrap can be added to your yard waste including: table scraps, fruit and vegetable scraps, meat scraps, cheese and dairy scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds and tea bags, breads/grains/pasta, floral trimmings, and even soiled paper towels and napkins. View flyer...

This program really helped to make collecting food scraps go mainstream in Lamorinda. Now that we’ve had this program in place for over two years we thought it might be helpful to hear the details of how people are using it and other ways to divert food scraps.


Stephanie Snyder - Using Green Yard Waste Bin
I love that our local waste system now recycles our table scraps but the little beige container they sent along was just not working for our family of five. Our solution, place a plastic bin under the sink to contain the waste and then empty the scraps into the green yard bucket as needed.  I have also made use of our collection of paper grocery bags, collected before we began to use reusable bags, to line the plastic bin to reduce the mess. The sink bin can easily be rinsed out in our set tub or with a hose on the side of the house. A simple idea to help eliminate the excuses for not recycling table scraps.


Steve & Sharon Richard - Using Green Yard Waste Bin
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When the CCCSWA rolled out the food scrap collection program in Lamorinda in September of 2007 we immediately jumped on the bandwagon and tried using the beige countertop container that was provided. It seemed as simple to put food scraps in the new container as in the garbage. The unexpected challenge was to change everyone’s habit of dumping food scraps in the garbage, for instance by catching the kids putting a banana peel in the regular garbage and reminding them where it’s supposed to go (many times). The main issue that emerged after a few months was that the beige container was getting pretty nasty and no one wanted to clean it, and our green garbage bin also became quite unpleasant, especially because we don’t put any yard waste in it. Because of these issues, food scrap collection wasn’t too popular in our house. Then my wife discovered 3 gallon compostable Bio-Bags at Diablo Foods that fit perfectly in a stainless steel compost pail. We ordered both. Now, when the pail is full, we simply lift out the compostable bag, tie the top, and drop it in the green bin outside. Just like a garbage bag (we’re using Bio-Bags for that too). No mess, no smells, no special cleaning required.
Learn about Bio-Bags...
Stainless Steel Compost Pail...


Michael & Gina Dawson - Using Vermicomposting (worms)
Our family drinks a lot of coffee and it seemed wasteful to dump paper filters and wet coffee grounds in the trash every morning. We needed a way to find reuse these grounds and all the other food scraps from our regular meal preparation. Our answer was found online by ordering a pound of live large European night crawlers, which we placed in a green worm bin in our garden. We also purchased an attractive ceramic container with a carbon filter lid to place next to our coffee maker. Once or twice a week we visit our wriggly friends to transfer the scraps and add damp, shredded newspaper. In return they give us incredibly rich soil for our raised garden beds. There's no mess, no smells, and for the past year it's been a great education tool for teaching our children about sustainability and the circle of food nutrients.
Learn about worm composting...


Kim & Fred Curiel - Using Chickens
Our family's food scrap collection: A big bowl by the sink that gets taken out to the chickens every morning.


Amy Greacen - Using Henhouse & Composting
We almost never have food scraps in our garbage cans. I collect kitchen scraps throughout the day and as needed deliver them to the henhouse, where they are promptly turned into high-nitrogen fertilizer. (I have a "mow and blow" yard maintenance crew and ask them to dump grass cuttings intot he chicken area too -- the hens love eating grass). The few human edibles that are toxic to fowl (chocolate and avacadoes are the main ones that come up at our house) go to a conventional compost heap, though now that the chickens eat most of our green material we don't have a high compost conversion rate -- it dries out when I'm not looking. We have a separate collection spot for spent grounds from our espresso machine. I use these directly as a mulch for acid-loving plants such as rhododendrons, roses and blueberries. It smells and looks appealing in addition to being great for the plants. And coffee is supposed to repel slugs and ants (I haven't conducted a study personally... am still busy looking for products that repel raccoons and turkeys. :-)


Send us a short paragraph about how you divert food scraps and we’ll add it!


Informational Links

WasteDiversion.org - Food Scraps Program for Lamorinda



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