The Compost Collective is an entrepreneurship program where youth are trained in workforce skills, food access programming and community-scale composting. They are receiving guided, hands-on experience managing a small-scale composting operation and its expansion, and using the compost they create to grow fresh produce for the community at Filbert Street Garden.… Read More
The Lindsey Meyer Teen Institute (LMTI) in Secaucus, New Jersey, has a team of youth this summer developing and implementing an action plan to compost food waste at a local high school. To help the team with ideas and move forward with planning their project, ILSR’s lead Neighborhood Soil Rebuilders compost trainers, Brenda Platt and Linda Bilsens Brolis, provided hands-on training July 10th. … Read More
Community composters address “What Is Community Composting?” in this 2-minute video.… Read More
Join us for a webinar on July 17th, 2018 at 2PM Eastern to dive into the details of our new report, Yes! In My Backyard: A Home Composting Guide for Local Government. The report advocates for home composting programs as one of the best opportunities to reduce food waste, especially as they can be implemented relatively quickly, and in areas lacking curbside organics collection or facilities to compost. Eleven programs were profiled, demonstrating that there is no one right way to implement a home composting program.… Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tackling the problem of food waste is gaining attention to avoid garbage, conserve resources, create jobs, alleviate hunger, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) details how home composting is among the best opportunities to reduce food waste, especially in the near term and in areas lacking curbside collection or facilities to compost.… Read More
The report, Yes! In My Backyard: A Home Composting Guide for Local Governments, profiles 11 home composting programs (10 in the United States, 1 in Canada) and is a guide for local governments starting their own programs. It makes the case that home composting should be a central component of every community’s residential food waste reduction strategy. The guide is not intended as a manual on how to compost at home.… Read More
On May 1, 2018, Bill B22-0501 – Home Composting Incentives Amendment Act of 2018 unanimously passed the D.C. City Council. ILSR has supported and worked on this bill since it was first introduced by City Councilmember Mary Cheh. Home composting is an important part of any community’s strategy to recycle food scraps and yard trimmings. By cutting waste set out at the curb for municipal collection, home composting will save the City avoided costs in hauling and disposal site tipping fees. At the same, residents will enrich the soil in their own yards.… Read More
Bokashi is a Japanese term meaning “fermented organic matter.” Bokashi fermentation utilizes a variety of by-products – such as leaves, sawdust, husks, bran, other grains – inoculated with beneficial microbes to ferment kitchen waste. It is an anaerobic (without oxygen) process, akin to pickling. Often mistakenly considered a form of composting, it results in a very different product. However, as a pre-processing step to composting, it has several benefits including ability to handle meat and dairy, repelling rats, speeding up the composting process, and cutting frequency of food scrap collection.
Join this webinar.… Read More
On March 29th, 2018, the District of Columbia made an important step toward rolling out its own home composting program, when the Committee on Transportation and the Environment unanimously voted to recommend for approval Bill B22-0501 – Home Composting Incentives Amendment Act of 2018 to the full Council. … Read More
