Recycling.. Why don't we..

[Todd]

I don't know how many of you have gardens but one of the things I'm trying to do is recycle all my organic waste. This makes great soil for gardens and such.

While I was thinking about this I started to wonder. Why don't we as a nation compost waste? Pretty much any paper, cardboard, food and organic material in general will compost. I can't help thinking this would do wonders for reducing landfill volumes. All of the fertile soil could be used here where needed or exported to some of the third world nations who can't grow a crop to save their lives.

Is there something I'm missing in the process that would make this a bad idea??

 

[Bobby_M]

We're doing it already on some level, but I think composting 100% of our organic waste is generally too expensive. The one case where it's cost effective is in areas where people are willing to pay for the composted soil (farms, etc). If we composted it all, the market would be saturated, lowering the price, and making it cost too much to make.

To compost effeciently (fast) and without it smelling HORRIBLE, you need the right combo of carbon to organics (dry leaf to greens for example). Can you imagine the workload of separating all the garbage? Who's going to sift through all the garbage? It's easier to dig a hole and bury it or burn it apparently.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

It's all a conspiracy man!! The MAN doesn't want us to reuse!

 

[Beerrific]

In my area they have come up with a pretty cool system. They through everything in a landfill then backfill in with some type of piping and enclosures. As the organic waste decomposes it releases methane, they pipe this methane out and use it to boil water and use the steam to make electricity. Also, they do pick up of yard waste and compost some and mulch the rest and you can go get it for free.

 

[Todd]

We're doing it already on some level, but I think composting 100% of our organic waste is generally too expensive. The one case where it's cost effective is in areas where people are willing to pay for the composted soil (farms, etc). If we composted it all, the market would be saturated, lowering the price, and making it cost too much to make.

To compost effeciently (fast) and without it smelling HORRIBLE, you need the right combo of carbon to organics (dry leaf to greens for example). Can you imagine the workload of separating all the garbage? Who's going to sift through all the garbage? It's easier to dig a hole and bury it or burn it apparently.

I think in recycle centers it is already sorted by hand. So if there was a separate bin for organics like glass or plastic it would make things easier. I pictured large feilds full of trash with very large land movers mixing it up.

I guess I feel we only have so much landfill space and this would be put to better use.. Oh well, just a thought.

 

[Todd]

In my area they have come up with a pretty cool system. They through everything in a landfill then backfill in with some type of piping and enclosures. As the organic waste decomposes it releases methane, they pipe this methane out and use it to boil water and use the steam to make electricity. Also, they do pick up of yard waste and compost some and mulch the rest and you can go get it for free.

Actually my town does this also. I think it is a good thing. Maybe this is more prevelent than I realized.

 

[david_42]

Sunnyvale, CA did a great deal of recycling and had these huge compost heaps. Up here, there's a dump and it is extremely difficult to recycle anything. The bottle & can machines at stores can be (and are) set to only take that distributor's products.

 

[Bobby_M]

My town has a community drop off site for all kinds of things. One garbage truck is dedicated to organics such as leaves and grass clippings. I'm sure they compost this stuff. I think this approach makes the most sense since they have it pre sorted. I suppose green minded citizens could also keep their vegetable scraps in a separate bin to bring to the drop off site too, but then can you be sure people aren't putting meat scraps in too?

 

[Vermicous]

I saw on Dirty Jobs that San Francisco has some sort of pilot project where all the organic waste is separated and composted. The resulting methane is then burned for energy.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

My mother takes my spent grains and throws them in her "lesser gardens" along with the woodchips. Honestly, I brew enough that she has a nice bed for the flowers, it's rather pretty. She uses it, not in the gardens she really cares most about, but in the ones with especially hardy plants that get a little less attention. So far, so good.

 

[Chrus]

I guess I feel we only have so much landfill space and this would be put to better use..

But the peoples who look after this sort of stuff... not gonna run out of landfill space in their lifetime... so whats the big deal... I mean... why would they think about future generations...

 

[fretman124]

I guess I feel we only have so much landfill space and this would be put to better use.. Oh well, just a thought.

Ever been to Nevada, New Mexico, West Texas, parts of Arizona, central-east California.......?

We have several hundred thousand square miles of landfill space.......