This is the little copper pail that sits on my counter so that it’s easy for me to drop my organic waste into it. I like its warm look, and I also like the fact that by using it I have reduced the amount of garbage I have to put out for pickup considerably. I have a big bin at the side of my house where I dump the scraps, old leaves, newspaper and dirt and wait for it to turn into rich black compost. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years, and it isn’t difficult. But, as I spend more time in the city, I wonder how it would be if I lived in an urban area. The collecting part would be easy. In the Bay area , some residents are provided with a small green bucket for their food scrap recycling.
They’re lucky enough to have curbside pickup of the food scraps and yard waste, which are then composted.
In NYC, it seems that it would be almost impossible to compost, but as it turns out, the Department of Sanitation established the New York Compost Project in 1993 to promote composting to NYC homes and businesses. They run composting workshops, including Indoor Composting with a Wormbin (participants receive a plastic wormbin, 1 pound of red wriggler worms, and a free copy of Worms Eat My Garbage) and Composting in the City or Backyard Composting, which offers a full overview of the production and use of compost. Those who are really dedicated can enroll in the Master Composter Certificate Program, which in addition to 18-23 hours of classroom instruction, 2 field trips, and 15 hours of supervised training also encompasses a 15-hour community service project.
NYC residents can take advantage of free compost givebacks coming up this spring, and can purchase large compost bins for only $20 instead of the usually $70.
