Fall is cleanup time at my house and garden. By now, the tomatoes, bean plants, and cucumber vines look sad, mildewy, and brown. It’s also the time I start to think about compost and food waste.
During the summer months, I use my yard debris curbside cart for my family’s food scraps, including bones and cheese. Did you know that yard debris services in Eugene, Springfield, and Veneta allow food, including cheese and meat bones, to be put in the bins?
This is great news because less food waste in the trash means less methane emissions in our landfills.
I love using my yard debris cart for my food scraps in summer. To reduce smells, I will freeze larger bones or cheeses, or wait to put them in until the day before my cart goes out. Other ways to reduce odors include putting baking soda in the bottom of the bin or adding a layer of leaves or lawn clippings over food scraps.
By winter, though, I switch to a simple in-ground compost method for most of my food scraps. I dig a hole in my raised bed, dump my food scraps in, and cover it with soil. This method is called in-ground composting. And the best part: it’s super simple, and I don’t have to maintain a compost pile or worry about rodents getting in.
OSU Extension Service offers free compost workshops year-round, and they have many more options for composting, as well as suggestions for composting in apartments.
Did you know?
Food scraps in the landfill break down anaerobically—meaning they produce lots of methane gases. Conversely, food waste in a compost bin produces mostly carbon dioxide. So by keeping this food waste out of our landfills, we help to make a more sustainable planet.
— Tamara Andreas, Lane County Waste Reduction Assistant
Research:
Guide: Yard Debris & Food Waste Disposal in Eugene | Apex Recycling | Apex Recycling (apexdisposalservices.com)
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