T – Page 140 – Crazy About Compost

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…

Composting at the Dirt Factory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Bp5OzrlCM#t=44 Philadelphia needs to replicate this site throughout in order to cut landfill waste by at least a third. Dirt Factory makes it easy!

Paper Skeletons

I took a peek at my curing compost pile recently, and somehow contaminants seem to push their way to the top. There was a small piece of a styrofoam cup, some plastic film, and then this skeleton of an ice cream carton...or at least most of it. Where's the rest of it? It's now in my compost in microplastic form. I always thought I'd just experiment with a variety of items that seemed to consist of just paper, only to find out there's plastic in there too. Moral of the story: Be conscious of what "paper" products you add to your compost pile. If you keep it to paper towels, napkins, tissues and certified compostable products, you should be good to go. Where is the line drawn? I doubt my…