NO compostable plastics accepted at Sonoma Compost Facility

See the article by Will Bakx of Sonoma Compost under Articles/Plastics

Bioplastics Update

• Our Sonoma County Recycling Guide has listed bioplastics as “neither recyclable NOR compostable,” as they do not break all the way back down to life, but leave trace particles.
• The bioplastics are often not clearly labeled and there is great inconsistency in the industry and an overall lack of communication between key players, from manufacturers to the standards settings and end composting facilities.
• They are fossil-fuel intensive in the growing of the organic material and in the shipping of them as well.
• They are shipped great distances, from field to manufacturer to distributor to end user, to be used for a very short time, a fork for perhaps five minutes.
• It is also the case that when bioplastics go to a landfill rather than to a compost facility, they generate MORE greenhouse gases than their petroleum-counterparts.  In breaking down much more quickly, part of that breaking down is methane gas.  So if the bioplastics do not go to a formal compost facility, they may be contribute more to climate change in the immediate than their conventional alternatives.
• The corn could have been used as feed stock rather than as a fork, and much of it is now genetically modified.  We share this so you can make your best decision, fully informed.
  
  At Sonoma County events, we use:
  Reusable wares whenever possible
  Tree-free or recycled content paper products
  Recyclable plastic products  - in the triangle on the container, look for #2, 4 or 5
  Never polystyrene
  Only compostable plastics if your eco-conscience cannot abide petroleum-based plastics.  These products go to the landfill and create more methane gas than their counterparts that will be recycled, increasingly in the US.
  
  That said, they are STILL accepted at other compost facilities around the Bay Area. Much research and development is being done.

Organic waste to soil creation

While it is true that at home and at the office, we toss out much too much in the way of organics, at public events, unless systems are put into place to avoid this, it is a given that ALL organic material will end up in the landfill. It is not convenient yet to have it sent to hog farms and it is typically too voluminous to go to a backyard compost operation, but in many parts of California, having it hauled to a permitted compost facility is relatively easy.

And it often reduces tipping fees, as the hauling of organics can cost less than landfilling in many municipalities!  Composting at public events provides another valuable service in educating attendees and all participants about the intrinsic value of organic material as a valuable resource. We teach about soil making, remind people that what was once alive can be so again in short order and it is vital that we concentrate on soil making in this time of increasing soil erosion and ruin.

This from CalRecycle - visit this site for lots more on composting!

Food Scrap Management

Californians throw away more than 5 million tons of food scraps each year. That’s 16 percent of all disposed materials going into landfills from businesses, residents, and institutions such as schools and prisons. Although green material collection programs have been implemented in many cities and counties, management of food scraps provides additional opportunities to help meet the State’s diversion goals as well as provide greater uses for this resource. A suggested order for food scrap management is to (1) prevent food waste, (2) feed people, (3) convert to animal feed and/or rendering, and (4) compost.