What Is Compost

Farm-to-table is fine, but what comes next?

Much has been made of the farm-to-table restaurant movement. But what happens to all the food that ends up uneaten at the table?

In what you might call a burgeoning table-to-farm movement, a small but growing number of companies are being launched around the country to answer that question, to help restaurants deal with the ecologically and economically expensive problem of food waste by composting it.

"The restaurant business is an incredibly wasteful business," says Peter Egelston, owner of Portsmouth Brewery restaurant in Portsmouth, N.H. "We generally put more food in front of people than they can eat in one sitting. If it's not going home in a doggie bag, it seems like we should send it where it will have new life."

And so two years ago Egelston's brewery began composting with the help of EcoMovement, a company that hauls food waste from about 40 restaurants in the region and takes it to be composted.

Composting — a natural process in which food and other organic scraps are decomposed into fertile soil — has long been a mainstay of farms and backyards. But few restaurants have the space or time to compost their own waste. And so they typically pay to have it disposed of in landfills along with the rest of their trash.

But as communities have struggled to reduce their waste, pressure has mounted on the restaurant industry to do its part.

"A few things changed," says Michael Oshman, CEO of the Green Restaurant Association. "Cities in California passed laws requiring some level of waste reduction. To attack waste reduction without looking at food is like having a heart patient come in to the doctor and not talk to them about exercise and diet. So cities like San Francisco begin composting. They demonstrate it's doable and others follow their lead."

San Francisco began a pilot composting program in 1996, which quickly expanded. In 2001, officials made composting available city-wide on a voluntary basis; it became mandatory in 2009, including for the city's more than 5,000 restaurants. Since 1996, the city has composted more than 835,000 tons of food scraps.

Since then, other cities — including Seattle — have passed similar laws that mandate composting. But desire isn't enough. To compost, you either need to have a place to put food waste — and the time to tend to it — or arrange for it to be taken to a farm or composting facility.

And that's where companies like EcoMovement come in. Rian Bedard was inspired to start the company when he moved from San Francisco to New Hampshire and realized no one was offering compost pickup. They began hauling food waste in November 2009.

Choosing to Compost - Houseplants and Gardening | Houseplants and ...

In this article we are going to be addressing composting 101 , or the basics of the required steps to get started with composting for anyone who is new to the concept. For anyone who is reading about garden compost , it’s likely that you’re an enthusiastic garden enthusiast and you are clearly looking to be helpful and kind to the environment with your horticulture endeavours. Composting will help you to do both of those activities.

To start, what is composting? Garden compost is actually decomposed living, or organic and natural substance which has been prepared naturally right into a really rich type of dirt. Whenever a particular person sets out to actively compost, there are methods that you could increase the procedure which usually might take longer if left up to nature alone.

There are some different ways that one can make use of to get started with composting. You could pick amongst worm composting, backyard composting or making use of some sort of container or barrel for the composting endeavours to name a few of the key varieties.

Worm composting is usually known as vermicomposting. This is often not hard to keep up once you have your regular supply of red worms. You’d build your worm box and then simply feed your own organic and natural scraps to the red worms which will consume the waste materials and after that develop a garden compost that is odor free. The particular red wigglers can deliver garden compost that is very rich in nutrition for the garden.

Backyard composting essentially takes place once you begin your own personal garden compost pile in the back garden. The best way to begin with this is by using leaves, straw as well as lawn. You are going to most likely not need to incorporate organic and natural foods making use of this technique because you will not want your back yard pile to give off an odor that will be annoying to your household and the nearby neighbors.

Lots of people may choose to purchase some sort of box to keep their particular garden compost. This can be a even bigger rich compost tumbler or perhaps a form of rich compost bin. One of the easiest ways to get started is to make your own rich compost bin using a large tin can. Basically pierce the actual can at frequent intervals all over. Remove the bottom part of the can and moisten the dirt in places you will probably be placing this garden compost bin. Put the tin can over the wet ground and after that start to place your own organic and natural scraps within the tin can. After a while your material will rot and then you will get garden compost.

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