One person ends up creating 1.5 tons of solid waste a year. 3/4th’s of that is recyclable, but only 30% is actually recycled. These figures are staggering and composting is a huge part of recycling I believe is going largely ignored by the general population.
Composting creates a reusable fertilizer that is can benefit plant growth and health. We have a company in Austin called the East Side Compost Peddlers. This company is a zero-emission company run solely on human-powered cargo bikes. For a monthly fee one will have their own pick-up peddler come to their door and retrieve your week’s compost. Once the organic matter has been turned into compost the members can actually have it delivered to help fertilize their own gardens.
To date the East Side Compost Peddlers have diverted a quarter of a million pounds of organic matter from the land fill and turned it into reusable compost. They’ve cut methane emissions by 40 tons, saved over 17,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and their peddlers have burned over 1.5 million calories.
All of that has happened with just one small company in Texas. Imagine if this was implemented nation wide. The benefits would be exponential.