Portland: Food Soiled Paper Products Get the Boot

  The above waste station was at the Oregon Convention Center. It seems like they’re a bit more stringent (realistic) with their designations. “Food Only” is a good one… this is where it’s at these days- composting facilities taking other than just food and yard waste are running into trouble left and right due to hidden plastic contamination (amongst other things). I think the picture is funny for the “All Other Items” (much more polite than "Landfill")… take that cardboard coffee sleeve off of that cup first!  That’s valuable carbon right there… as is most of that cup… there must be a way to get plastics phased out of paper products. Why?  Because there’s certified 100% compostable paper products for all single use items, and every freaking one of them…

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Begich Middle School Composting (video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIvpiUFms_Q I love seeing the kid in this video explaining the process, and he definitely gets it. We need more of this! Know of any schools that are composting near you? This is one of those things that I foresee really taking off in the coming years. Why? It's simple ownership of the students' (and staff's) waste that can merge nicely with an Environmental Science or Home Economics class that most if not all kids have to take at some point. Plus, these behaviors can make their way home and just like that our landfill impact drops. While Newt Gingrich made those extra-strength ignorant comments about replacing a custodian's job with students as young as 9 years old, maybe this is a little more realistic. Kids can take turns collecting…

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Composting Opportunities at School (video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNx3_qJU8G0 I posted this video recently on my other website, tylertalkstrash.com, and then I realized it had some crossover here. Schools are a blaring example of composting potential, and you teach the kids about it and hold them responsible for its success. This came to mind as I was taking a stroll downtown earlier and walked in front of a shoe store that had its trash on the street. It didn't take long to realize that they are yet another industry that could easily compost their waste with little to no contamination. All they have is cardboard boxes neatly flattened, shoe boxes smooshed into garbage bags along with the tissue paper you put inside and around the shoe. Check it out: It's hard to think of an industry that couldn't…

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