Composting

On average about one-third of our trash is compostable. There are a number of things that you can do with biodegradable trash that doesn't involved sending it off to the landfill. Besides the obvious benefit of not filling up landfills as quickly, biodegrading materials in landfills create methane gas, which is a big contributor to our ozone damage. Landfills are the third largest source of human-made methane in America.

If you live in a house, you can fairly easily set up a compost bin. Rotating compost bins are available, but a garbage can on wheels with holes cut into the bottom also works. Make sure you park the can somewhere where worms can get into it, not on asphalt or cement. When I lived in a house, we used to alternate vegetable matter and gerbil bedding (from our gerbil), which helped the compost break down.

If you have access to a farm or friends with a compost bin, you can save your veggie discards in the freezer and then bring the frozen stuff over to them regularly. Obviously, ask permission first and find out if there's anything they don't want included in the compost. (Most composters don't want animal flesh mixed in.)

Now I live in an apartment, so composting is a little more complicated. I thought about asking my landlord if I could set up a compost bin somewhere on the property. He does have a small vegetable garden, but he hasn't been keeping it up. Besides the downside of composting in the Northeast is winter. We still eat vegetables, but who wants to go out and wrestle with frozen compost in the dead of winter?

Several indoor composters exist that create soil using worms or composting tea that can be used as a fertilizer. Unfortunately, all the ones I located online were made out of plastic, and I didn't want to buy any new plastic if I could help it. Luckily, I found a worm-based composter called The Worm Factory 360 used on Craigslist. The guy I bought it from was moving and said he hadn't used it much anyway. I asked if it smelled when it was in operation, and he said they had kept it outside and not used it much. Now the proud owner of a used Worm Factory 360, I guess I'll find out.