Would a community-wide composting plan be feasible?

Question

As our landfills are quickly filling...we need to address the problem of landspace for waste disposal. A very high percentage of our trash is composed of materials that are biodegradable. I'm proposing a community composting plan similar to trash pick-up and recycling pick-up. The nutrient-rich soil created from the compost could be sold to farmers for fertilizer, and the profits could be used to put back into the program to lower the costs of running it. Do you think this would be a good idea?

Answer 1

It can be a good thing. Methane generation from trash can be even better.  It has different requirements, but it generates methane and fertilizer.

Answer 2

The City of Boston, Massachusetts does this already, though not year round.  For several weeks in the Fall, compostable materials are picked up, composted over the winter, and then delivered in the spring to all the community gardens in the city.

Answer 3

Yes, several cities (Toronto, North York, Pickering, etc)already have kitchen waste and yard waste pickup which is composted at a municipal site and sold to gardening stores as green fertilizer.

Answer 4

I know that in my home town they recycle and compost almost everything.  It is on a very large scale.  

Think about what you would compost, now add diapers, sanitary napkins, coffee filters(some people do not compost these)   Well they do it all.

The town is Georgina, ON.  Check it out.

Answer 5

Of course yes, if a proper biogas plant is built this waste could generate cooking gas for the community as well as compost fertilizer in addition to taking care of the waste.

This is one of the ways to build self-sufficient communities .

Answer 6

The first step is mandatory separation of garbage into recyclables, hazardous materials (batteries) and green garbage.

After that, a composting plant would become profitable, and landfills will get much smaller volumes of garbage for burial.

Answer 7

I was visiting a relative in Ithaca, NY, and they had some community composting in place.  The two places where I saw this was at their farmers market, which is held three times a week in three different places, and at a downtown festival that was going on while I was there.  Not only did they want you to put your unused food in the composting containers, but any paper products.  Also, many vendors used biodegradable, compost-friendly utensils rather than utensils made from plastics.  This is not a very large community, but it goes to show that it is indeed possible for communities to get together and promote the people living in it to go beyond just recycling.  It would certainly take community involvement and city official cooperation, but if enough people became interested in the idea, it could be done.

Answer 8

A better method would be to encourage people to maintain their own worm bins and practice vermicomposting at home. That way, you don't waste fuel moving compostable materials from place to place. Instead, you can compost at home and use the compost in your own yard or garden.

Answer 9

Yes it is a good idea but not new.

If you think you can get local support and customers for the methane driven energy and the compost then it may be worth approaching your Regional Development Agency (in England) to see if any grants are available.

Best wishes.