Compost Collection Is Here!
Composting your food waste is one of the "easiest," high-impact things you can do to reduce your environmental footprint...but if you live in an apartment or don't have the ability to turn a compost pile, it's not all that easy after all!
We want to make composting easy for everyone, so bringing a compost collection service to Topeka has been part of our vision for Full Circle since Day 1. Today we are thrilled to announce that we are taking the first step toward the goal!
We are partnering with Compost Collective KC to serve as one of their "bin swap" locations. The process is simple: buy a bucket, fill it up, bring it back and swap it for a clean one. Repeat infinitely. Your food scraps are then turned into nutrient-rich soil at the Urbavore Urban Farm, where they will be used to grow food once again.
Compost Collective has been providing curbisde compost pickup and dropoff in Kansas City since 2017 and operates bin swap locations in Lawrence as well. The material is composted at the Urbavore Urban Farm, where it will be used to grow food once again.
We hope that Topeka will one day have its own community composting site and are actively working toward that goal. But until then, this is a fantastic way to keep your food waste out of the landfill.
Below are a few tips for bin swappers to consider as you settle into your new composting system!
- The bin is labeled with a list of accepted materials. You can put all sorts of food and table scraps (including meat) in your bin. You can also compost uncoated paper products (like napkins and pizza boxes) and compostable plastic packaging. Make sure everything fits inside your bin with the lid on.
- To minimize liquids and smells in your bucket as you fill it, it's a good idea to drain liquids from your scraps before adding them to the bin. You may also wish to freeze meat and other soggy scraps until swap day. This is particularly true if it takes you several weeks to fill up your bucket. Adding paper napkins, shredded paper, or other paper scraps to your bin can also help soak up liquids.
- Your bucket comes with a compostable bin liner, which makes the buckets easier to clean and a little less smelly. But if your bag liner breaks, don't worry about it. You can use a paper grocery bag as a reinforcement if you want, but it's not necessary.
- Avoid leaving your bin out in the sun to prevent smells and pests. Keeping it indoors in the summer is ideal.
- Keep the compost clean by removing produce stickers, removing staples from tea bags, and making sure twist ties, rubber bands, etc., don't end up in the bin.
- A small amount of oil from cooked food is fine, but avoid composting larger amounts of oil or grease.
- Finally, if you include any compostable plastic packaging in your bin, make sure it is 100% Certified Compostable (look for a BPI certification symbol). As much as you can, try to avoid getting compostable plastics to begin with.
If you have questions or to learn more about Compost Collective, check out their website or shoot us a message (info@fullcirclesustainability.org). And for general tips on reducing food waste (so you have less that needs composting to begin with), we've got a blog post on that topic as well!
Now let's get composting!
-Justine
