The Compost Pile

The Death of the SunChips Bag?

2010-10-06T16:34:00.001-04:00

As you may have heard, Frito-Lay (PepsiCo) announced this week that it will abandon its compostable packaging for SunChips, due to customer complaints about noise and poor sales. It will continue to offer the compostable bag for "original" SunChips, but reinstate conventional bags for the other flavors while it researches other options. This is extremely disheartening. Scrapping this

Food Waste Composting in Cleveland

2010-05-19T11:11:00.003-04:00

Food waste composting programs are taking off in Ohio, as the infrastructure to processes those organics rapidly expands. This is much to the credit of the Ohio EPA, which works closely with businesses looking to divert food waste, and helps composting facilities with permitting. A recent news story in Cleveland's The Plain Dealer highlights the sports stadiums and businesses in downtown

Compost Matters

2010-04-24T14:58:00.004-04:00

Earlier this month I was at an all-day event in Philadelphia that focused on composting in the Delaware Valley. Titled "Compost Matters," it was co-sponsored by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and the PA Horticultural Society. The key note speaker was Will Allen of Growing Power. Will's presentation was captivating, covering the astonishing depth and breadth of Growing Power's programs

Compost Buttons

2010-03-18T11:28:00.006-04:00

Do you love compost, and want everybody to know about it? Then check out these new buttons! One of my new projects is RRcraft, where we combine art with environmentalism, with green themes and greeting cards printed on 100% recycled paper with soy inks. The concept for this button is a family story. When I started writing for BioCycle magazine, my grandmother was very excited. She has long been

Italy II - Slow Food

2010-03-03T13:00:00.014-05:00

While in Italy last September, I attended a Slow Food Cheese event. Slow Food is an international nonprofit that was started in Italy in 1989. It was founded on the ideas of gastronomy, which is the study of the relationship between culture and food. The nonprofit was established in part to counteract the proliferation of fast food, perceived as a threat to Italian culture.Slow Food has grown

Italy I - Val di Fiemme

2009-09-26T14:12:00.015-04:00

I recently returned from a trip to northern Italy, where I toured farms, composting and anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities, mountain communities with advanced collection schemes, a zero waste Slow Food event, and more. The food, wine and culture were fabulous, and I will share what I can in this series of postings.A good place to start is Val di Fiemme, a valley in the Dolomites (part of the

Organic waste collection in North Carolina

2009-09-07T18:53:00.007-04:00

Most areas of the U.S. don't have curbside collection of organic waste as part of their municipal service. However, there are innovative haulers all over that are beginning to collect organic waste from businesses. These haulers not only help businesses reduce their waste bills, and give compost facilities necessary feedstocks, but they demonstrate the need for organics collection -- communities

CAFO Composting - Fabric Buildings

2009-09-03T19:48:00.007-04:00

CAFOs, or confined animal feeding operations, are increasingly turning to composting for nutrient management programs (voluntarily, or sometimes mandated by the government). Two facilities I've spoken with recently are using fabric buildings to cover their composting operations. Fabric structures are inexpensive, corrosion resistant, and provide natural light and ventilation. <!--[if gte mso

Local Food Articles

2009-08-24T20:49:00.006-04:00

I've across a few articles on local food recently that are a cut above the fray. They touch on issues of climate change and vegetarianism, and reference studies conducted on the impact of our food choices.From World Watch magazine, "Is Local Food Better?" is a well researched article that explores the meaning of local food, tradeoffs involved with that choice, and the notion that what you eat

Green Colleges

2009-08-17T21:07:00.004-04:00

The Princeton Review's 2010 annual guides include green ratings for colleges and universities. It gives green ratings to 697 colleges, a 30% increase in the number of participants from last year. The Princeton Review rates schools on a scale of 60 to 99 in eight categories, including the green rating. This category was developed in 2007 with ecoAmerica, a nonprofit that helped launch the

More Growing Power Photos

2009-08-11T19:36:00.020-04:00

Here are some more photos from my tour of Growing Power in Milwaukee, October 2008.Below is an old household clothes dryer that Will Allen adapted into a compost screen -- he told us that it's common for the heating element of dryers to burn out, but still have a working motor, making them a common but useful discard. All vertical space is utilized in the greenhouses.Some of the hoop houses

Composting Food Waste At Urban Garden

2009-08-07T18:15:00.008-04:00

Will Allen, Founder and CEO of Growing Power in Milwaukee, had already been featured in a dozen articles before he was awarded a MacArthur "Genius Grant," and now has even more media attention. Here's only the second working farmer to win a the Genius Grant:Why am I excited that Growing Power is garnering all of the attention, despite the fact that there are other noteworthy urban gardens?

Truly Green Restaurants

2009-08-04T18:36:00.007-04:00

A new Zagat guide will feature New York City's green restaurants. To be released this month, the guide is printed on 100% postconsumer recycled paper.What's important is that these 35 green NYC restaurants showcased in Zagat are truly green, certified by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). A nonprofit started in 1990, GRA's certification is the real deal, using a point-based system, ranking

Trash Art

2009-07-30T21:54:00.010-04:00

Following the mantra reduce, reuse, recycle, there are plenty of people who reuse trash for practical applications. I find making art out of trash one of the most interesting -- taking discarded objects that have no value to one person, and transforming them into something most people would find beautiful. A fantastic example is a program actually sponsored bya garbage company, albeit one of the

50-Year Farm Bill

2009-07-29T19:52:00.008-04:00

I keep coming back to an Op-Ed piece from the New York Times written by Wes Jackson, who founded the Land Institute, and Wendell Berry, a farmer and writer in Kentucky. These two "practicing environmentalists" are leaders in the field of sustainable agriculture. "A 50-Year Farm Bill" (January 2009), commends the efforts being made by thoughtful farmers and consumers, but also details the

Introduction to Compostable Products

2009-07-28T19:11:00.015-04:00

There's a lot of buzz about compostable products, as companies attempt to become green. These are products, from cups to cutlery to bags, that are designed to biodegrade in a composting environment. This industry is huge -- International Paper just sold its one billionth ecotainer, making it the most common compostable product (right). It's essentially a paper cup, but is coated with a

Renewable Energy From Food Scraps

2009-07-27T20:37:00.009-04:00

The Environmental Protection Agency put together a great video on using food scraps to create renewable energy.This educational video is a great example of successful public outreach -- it is general enough for the public audience to understand the basics of anaerobic digestion, and explains where government funds are being used for renewable energy research (the project was funded by EPA Region

Mandatory Composting

2009-07-25T11:46:00.013-04:00

San Francisco has led the way in the U.S. for curbside collection of organics. In 1999 the City and County of San Francisco rolled out its residential three-stream curbside program as a pilot project. Often referred to as the Fantastic Three, the bins are for trash, commingled recyclables, and compostables (yard trimmings and all food waste, including meat and dairy). They finished expanding

Overview and Purpose

2009-07-24T23:37:00.002-04:00

The Compost Pile is a Blog dedicated to news and commentary on issues of sustainability, focusing in particular on composting and organics recycling. Postings will connect organic waste streams to local food production and sustainable agriculture, and will include topics such as climate change, renewable energy, green design, biomass, zero waste, sustainable schools, water quality and curbside