It's not every day that you have a life changing experience, and probably even less often that the experience is at the dump. But today, I got to go on a tour of the San Francisco Dump (aka recycling and waste station) and it has completely changed my perspective on what I do with my trash, and how I accumulate and dispose of it!
First - a couple stats:
The dump throws into the "Pit" 2000 tons of trash a day. That's a lot of stinky, smelly trash. just looking at this pic makes the smell come back to me, and it's not pretty.
68% of this trash in the pit is recyclable or compostable. That stench comes from the food scraps that are all compostable. Take a look at this picture and see what you can spot that does not belong in the trash:
I see A LOT of paper and cardboard and wood and metal that can be recycled as construction materials.
I also learned a lot about composting. Which was convenient since that was one of my new year's resolutions - to actually compost my kitchen trash, not just when I garden. First off - even just last night, I had to throw away a milk carton, and I didn't know where it should go. Turns out, waxed paperboard products go in the green can! Not paper recycling - it gums up those machines. And not the trash. Although, if you're really good, you'll tear out those plastic spouts before composting.
The San Francisco compost is particularly loved by the farmers because of our diverse foods that end up in the compost. This is the best way to give back to the earth - and really easy too!
Another tip I learned was ways to contain your compost if you're not using that little mini green bin from the trash company. The guy giving our tour said he just takes a paper bag each day, lines it with newspaper to absorb the moisture, and fills it with the kitchen scraps, and takes it out at the end of the day. Another alternative was to use one of those juice or milk cartons and just put stuff in that and then toss it in the green can. In my earlier attempt to fulfill my resolution, I bought one of those nice looking bins with the carbon filters in it, and line it with a
bio-bag (compostable plastic bag), and that's what I'm using now. But I kind of wish I knew the carton idea before...
And really bad is putting your recycling or compost in regular plastic bags. They are neither compostable or recyclable (where the other stuff is), and they get wound around the machines and make a mess. Don't do it!
Other things I learned:
* Anything that used to be alive can go in the green can - plant or animal.
* Don't bother with the garbage disposal. Just compost it. It just creates sewer sludge and pollutes the ocean.
* Try as much as possible to not accumulate trash. If something you buy comes in unnecessary packaging - give it back to the place it came from (ie - drycleaner hangers - give 'em back! They love them!). If your take out arrives in a plastic bag - give it back, and maybe they'll learn that people don't want bags!
* Some grocery stores do recycle plastic bags. I've been doing that for a while.
* The plastics we can recycle are #2, #4, and #5, and any plastic bottle. Anything else goes in the trash.
* The dump accepts old paint that you haven't used. They also take that paint and mix it up into different colors, and repackage it into 5 gallon buckets and send it to places in need of paint! Like africa, and asia, and places in south america - really any developing nation that needs to paint hospitals and nursery schools and things like that. They also have a locker of paint that the public can just take - unopened gallons and mineral spirits and other things you might need for a DIY project on the cheap!
* There are 12 places in the ocean that all together are around the size of Texas (I've heard many different stats on the size - let's just say it's HUGE) that are where the ocean currents come together and there is this "island" of trash. A lot of it is plastic bags. YUCK! Basically, nothing ever goes away when it goes in the trash, and a lot of it ends up in the ocean.
Two websites were given as good references. I have yet to really surf them, but check it out:
www.sfrecycling.comAltered Oceans from the LA times
That's what I learned. I hope it enlightens you too! Compost on!
