Composting can change our culture and the way we view waste. Before you scoff or laugh, hear me out.
I was as unlikely a composter as they come. I wear rubber gloves to handle food scraps and spoiled food, do not like creepy crawly things at all, and have a low tolerance for yuckiness. Yet I am in my third year of composting and I actually enjoy it. The weird thing is, composting fruit and vegetable scraps led to other unexpected changes.
In part one of this 2-part post, find out how composting can fundamentally shift the way you view waste, not just food waste, and how that influences what you eat, how you shop, and what you buy or don’t buy. Then in part two, learn how easy it is to compost.
Composting Experiment
It all started with a birthday card from my parents in which they generously enclosed a $100 bill. I had been searching for a green project, a way for us to reduce our footprint on the planet. I decided to undertake a food composting experiment and used my birthday money to buy the necessary equipment. My family was highly skeptical of this undertaking.
Composting appealed to me for two reasons. One, grinding food scraps up in the garbage disposal using potable water or tossing them in the garbage seemed, well, wasteful. Two, I wanted to challenge myself by doing something way outside my comfort zone and that would require a lifestyle change.
I chronicled my composting experiment in three posts: Composting Part 1 – You’re Going to Do What?, Composting Part 2 – Doing It, and Composting Part 3 – Lessons Learned.
Tales from the Unlikely Composter
The composting experiment began with fruit and vegetable skins, peels, pits, scraps, and spoiled pieces, coffee grounds and filters, and peanut and pistachio shells. Because of the wild critters in the area, we opted not to include meat scraps or bones.
We collect composter food in a one-gallon stainless steel bucket with a lid and I dump it in the composter outside when it gets full or at least every few days.
Strategic Fruit and Vegetable Shopping
The first change I noticed was my reluctance to put spoiled whole fruits or vegetables in the compost pail. I used to toss overripe avocados and wilted lettuce in the trash or garbage disposal, so I should feel good about composting them instead. Right? Well not exactly, now it felt wrong to let produce go bad. It was, uhm, wasteful.
Instead of buying whatever produce looked fresh and tasty without paying much attention to quantity or shelf life, we began to shop more carefully. Now we purchase only what we think we can and will actually eat and then made a point of eating it.
For instance, I might walk into the kitchen with the idea of grabbing an apple, but if a banana smells like it is getting close to the only-good-for-banana-bread stage, I’ll eat that instead. My spouse, our main cook, chooses or creates recipes that use the produce we have on hand.
As a welcome side benefit, we save money by not wasting food we pay for.
Food Packaging Reduction Challenge
Next, I became intrigued and disturbed by the large volume of packaging that came with our food: wrappings, boxes, jars, bags, cans, cartons, pouches, and bottles. Sure, some of it was recyclable like cardboard cereal boxes and glass pasta sauce jars, but plastic wrappings, safety seals, and containers made of multi-layer materials were not.
Recycling is a good habit, but transporting, sorting, and processing recyclables still consumes energy, water, and resources, and generates waste and pollution.
Having less stuff to recycle became a desirable goal. To accomplish this we needed to eliminate or at least reduce the amount of packaging coming into the house.
We began filling up reusable bags with items like coffee beans, pasta, and pistachio nuts from the bulk bins. As we purchased more whole foods and fewer packaged items we brought less packaging home and vacant space appeared in our small pantry. We found farmer’s market vendors were receptive to us returning fruit boxes, egg cartons, and olive oil bottles and some even offered rebates for them.
Personal Care Product Make Over
Non-food items seemed to offer another packaging reduction opportunity so more recently I turned to personal care items.
I discovered I could refill my shampoo and conditioner bottles at a co-op we tried out. Better yet, it was the California-made brand I switched to several months ago.
A local shop, within walking distance of our house, makes and bottles rich moisturizing lotions with lovely scents. I’d bought a few bottles over the years and enjoyed them, so one day I walked into the shop and asked the proprietor if I could bring my own lotion dispenser. She said, “Sure.” Now I have a bottle of delightful plumeria-scented lotion on my bathroom counter. I also purchased a bar of glycerin soap they make in-house with natural ingredients I can actually pronounce and that does not come in a cardboard box.
The Waste Frontier
During a typical week, our 2-person household fills up the 21-gallon garbage can in the photo about 1/2 to 3/4 full. The one with the lid is our decades old, much patched, recycle bin. It’s usually full or almost full by trash day. Notice the trash compactor in the background (apparently, they were all the rage when our house was built in the 1980’s). We keep our garbage can in it.
Nowadays, I find myself looking at an item before putting it in a garbage can or recycling bin and posing questions to myself.
“Can cotton swabs be composted?”
“Is this blister pack containing 12 packs of dental floss recyclable?”
“Which beverage container is greener: plastic, glass, or aluminum?”
My inner waste monitor follows me to the store and the websites of my favorite online retailers.
“I want this lavender t-shirt.”
“You already have several t-shirts in your closet and you don’t need it.”
“I know, but I don’t have one like this.”
“Really.”
“Fine, I won’t buy it.”
The Bottom Line
If we hadn’t begun composting, we might still be buying pistachios in the bulk aisle, shopping with reusable bags, and refilling shampoo containers, but I believe composting gave us a fresh perspective on waste and nudged us in a new direction.
We’ve discovered new and interesting places to shop, met some of the people who grow our food, and found some great locally made products. It’s fun and feels good to support local businesses. Except momentarily, I don’t miss the stuff I didn’t buy, and it won’t require composting, recycling, or landfilling.
As I spread the compost around the Monterey Pine trees and native plants in our yard, I feel a sense of accomplishment and connection to the natural world. In nature, waste equals food—it’s a good model that humans should follow.
In the next post, pick up a few tips and learn how to make composting easy.
Related Posts:
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberries – Delicious or Destructive?
- Composting Made Easy – Tips from an Unlikely Composter
- Composting Part 1 – You’re Going to Do What?
- Composting Part 2 – Doing It
- Composting Part 3 – Lessons Learned
- Garbology – Book Review
- Reduce Comes Before Recycling
- Single-Serve Coffee and Coffee Makers
