No-Fuss Options for Separating Kitchen Scraps
San Franciscans have numerous options for separating food scraps for compost collection.
The keys to keeping your kitchen neat and clean are to place your scraps in a container that will not leak and transfer them to a compost collection (green) cart before they begin to break down. Usually that means taking them out once a day, such as after dinner.
Please place all food scraps from the preparation of meals and all plate scrapings from unfinished meals in a compost container. You can request a kitchen pail, at no additional cost, online at RecologySF.com, just click “order green cart.” You also can call Sunset Scavenger, (415) 330-1300, or Golden Gate, (415) 626-4000, weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Stores selling kitchenware offer countertop compost containers of different styles and price ranges. People typically rinse their countertop container with a little soap and water after use. Another option is to line the container with a little soiled paper, such as a paper napkin, to absorb moisture.
Source: Flickr
Paper grocery bags also can be used to hold kitchen scraps. To control moisture, line paper bags with a little newsprint or a few used paper towels. Then toss vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, and other leftovers inside. Once a day (before you go to bed) roll the top of the paper bag shut and toss it in a composting (green) cart.
Source: Flickr
A gable-top paper milk carton is another option. If you buy a paper carton with a plastic spout, which we do not recommend, split the top open and remove the plastic spout before placing food scraps inside.
Source: Flickr
Some people simply wrap kitchen trimmings in newspaper like a burrito. Newspaper and food soiled paper, such as paper napkins, mix with food scraps at the compost facility and compost well.
Please remember you should place all your food scraps, including meat and bones, soiled paper, and plants in the green cart for composting pickup.
Food scrap collection is easy; find the best method that works for you.
New data shows that composting is a highly effective way to help protect the environment. San Francisco residents and businesses have composted more than 620,000 tons of material, mostly food scraps, through the city’s green cart program. By composting all that food since the program was created instead of sending it to landfill, San Francisco:
- Avoided creating 137,000 tons of methane gas, which the Environmental Protection Agency reports is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
- Sequestered, or put back into the soil, 18,400 metric tons of CO2. That is the equivalent of keeping nearly 3,600 cars off the road.
- Created a total CO2E benefit (methane avoided and carbon sequestered) of 155,000 tons. That’s equal to reforesting 35 square miles of sustainable forest for 23 years or offsetting emissions from all vehicles crossing the Bay Bridge for 311 days.
Quick Home Compost Tip
Source: Tiny Farm Blog
My family uses a small bin and stores it in the freezer. This keeps the decomposition of the compost to a minimum = no smell. We previously used empty ice cream jugs to store the compost and it works all the same.
If you are short on room in the freezer, take a good look at what you have in there. Chances are there is some food in there that should be tossed and additional space to be found with some focus on organizing.
How to Compost at Multi-Family Homes: 6 Easy Steps for Building Managers
Guest blogger, Rob Hanke of Recology Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling explains how building managers can effectively implement compost programs at multi-family homes.
In the past, multi-family buildings have lacked comprehensive compost program implementation. On October 21, 2009 San Francisco passed an ordinance that required everyone in San Francisco to participate in adequate refuse recovery (recycling and compost). As a result, we have seen a significant increase in participation at multi-family buildings. As of November 2009, current statistics illustrate 52% of multi-family buildings have started compost service in their buildings. This increase demonstrates multi-family buildings are complying with the ordinance, but how successful and sustainable are their programs?
I have developed a checklist to help plan, implement and sustain a successful composting service in multi-family buildings. The checklist is a guide property/building managers that provides structure and education and enhances the likelihood of successful compost programs. By following the six step process, property/building managers can evolve their compost program and encourage participation in their buildings.
There are no cost factors with the checklist because it is intended to be emailed to the property/building managers dealing with the implementation process.
I believe this checklist will serve everyone in achieving San Francisco’s 75% diversion goal by 2010.
Step 1: Designate a Coordinator
- Property or Building Manager
- Maintenance staff
- Green Committee
- Motivated tenants
Step 2: Decide on Containers & Supplies Needed (provided by Recology)
- Green collection cart (32 or 64 gallon)
- Kitchen pail for each unit
- Informational posters, fliers and stickers
Step 3: Arrange Service with Recology
- Determine if cart will be serviced curbside or inside (if inside provide new key and confirm service instructions).
- Determine delivery date, contact person to accept delivery, frequency of collection and service start date.
- Call 415. 626.4000 or 415.330.1300 to arrange service.
- Delivery will include cart, pails, & green cart starter kit (set up guide & posters).
Step 4: Set Up Storage & Collection
- Determine if green internal bins will be placed on each floor with signage above (typically next to a chute or recycle bins in a chute/trash room).
- Plan with staff the transportation of material from internal locations to the central collection area.
- Create a map of site with compost locations clearly marked.
Step 5: Educate
- Send memo or email to tenants explaining compost program (i.e., why, how, what, where, when)
- Post information on compost program throughout building (e.g., mailboxes, elevator, laundry areas, garage, etc.)
- Host a kick-off meeting with tenants to explain program and hand out pails.
- Hand out pails door to door to each tenant.
- For more information, refer tenants to website: RecologySF.com
Step 6: Monitor
- Monitor green cart regularly for contamination.
- Keep cart clean by rinsing regularly.
- Schedule post-launch tenant meeting.
- Keep tenants informed of their progress.
- Troubleshoot operational issues.
Other Useful Tips
- Network with other Property Managers.
- Distribute program reminders through emails, fliers and tenant meetings.
- Involve tenants and maintenance staff to improve the compost program.
- Include recycle and compost information in move-in and move-out packets (provided by Recology).
- Line pail with newspaper or paper bag.
- Collect food scraps in a paper milk carton or ice cream container. Place the entire paper container in the collection cart.
- Purchase compostable bags if needed to line pail or cart.
- Empty pail frequently.
- Sprinkle baking soda in kitchen pail and collection cart to reduce odors.
- Freeze or refrigerate compost until placed in green cart.
Contact Recology Sales Department to request educational materials, trainings or to tour a facility (415.626.4000). 
Art at the Dump Christina Mazza & Erik Otto
Recology is pleased to announce a two-day art exhibition and reception for local artists Christina Mazza and Erik Otto. The exhibition will feature two separate bodies of work including drawings, paintings, and installations inspired by and created out of salvaged materials found during each artists’ four-month residency at San Francisco’s city dump.
Redemption by Christina Mazza
The Last Shall Be First by Erik Otto
Friday, January 22, 2010, 5pm to 9pm
Saturday, January 23, 2010, 1pm to 5pm
503 Tunnel Ave. San Francisco, CA 94134
http://www.recologysf.com/AIR
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Christina Mazza, Redemption
A focal point of Christina Mazza’s exhibition is a large mural in the center of the gallery depicting matted strips of white packing paper recovered from a collection of vintage Chinese lantern boxes. Mazza reproduced her findings as an abstracted pattern on the wall. Along with her mural, Mazza has focused on creating intricate drawings of ropes, cords, and twisted metal. Using found materials for her canvases, Mazza delighted over a graffiti-marred wooden tabletop, rusted metal cooking trays, and vintage book jackets as exciting surfaces to draw and paint on.
Although Mazza’s materials vary, everything she collected during her residency offered her a compelling opportunity to work with texture, form, and line. Themes of rejection as well as redemption appear throughout her work as she searched for beauty in discarded material. In regards to her selection process during the residency, Mazza remarked, “every rejected item I’ve drawn is meant to be closely examined. In doing so, the discarded object is acknowledged by the viewer and therefore redeemed.”
Her impeccable drawings are completed with ballpoint pen, pencil, or gouache, and present singular objects taken out of context from an often tangled conglomerate of disposed material. In regards to her technique, Mazza stated, “I work with the most humble and basic of implements. Using these common tools, I create sensitive, exquisitely-detailed and somewhat abstracted works that not only cause us to look at the environment around us differently, but also help us to closely examine ourselves and our own impact on that environment.” Her precision and realistic drawing style demands that we take a closer look at everyday objects. By highlighting a rope, or a pile of shredded paper, Mazza focuses on fragility and the individual beauty of objects that often go unnoticed. To accompany her drawings, she also produced an installation and a short collaborative video to document her memorable experience at the Dump.
Erik Otto, The Last Shall Be First
A Bay Area native, Erik Otto studied illustration and animation at San Jose State University. He is committed to drawing, painting, and constructing large installations using a variety of materials and surfaces. The amount of material available to Otto during his four-month residency at the Dump was both stimulating and inspiring.
In his exhibition, The Last Shall Be First, Otto calls attention to objects and materials that have been forgotten and disregarded. He incorporated house paint, spray paint, stenciling, collage and screen-printing in his artwork and through his creative process, regenerated these materials, turning waste into art. Through his homage to trash, Otto brings new spirit to old things and reminds us that thrown away and forgotten items can be salvaged and remembered.
Erik Otto considers himself a process artist and often, during the act of scavenging for materials, he develops his ideas. “I meditate and develop the concepts for the work I am about to create largely based on what I find. I often leave the initial stages of my work open and uncertain while intuitively working out a resolution that will decide its final outcome based on the suggestive qualities of the medium and materials at hand.”
His artwork and installations incorporate abstract and illustrative symbols and scenes with undercurrents of destruction. Themes of repetition, beauty, and devastation appeared in Otto’s work prior to his residency and continue to be central threads during his time at the Dump. Otto has only grown more compelled to find ways of visually depicting the never-ending cycle of waste.
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