The Indiana Recycling Coalition’s new Food Scrap Initiative will save money and keep organic waste out of landfills, president Carey Hamilton said.
Building more access to composting locations in cities and city government, the food scrap initiative will focus on organizations and institutions that can have a long-term effect in the state, Hamilton said.
“Today in Indiana, there are very limited composting drop-off options,” she said. “We’re working to build an infrastructure so that citizens know how to compost.”
Composting is a way to recycle food waste into a usable product for gardening or farming instead of placing it in a landfill “where it’s at the end of its life,” Hamilton said.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food scraps and “yard waste” like grass trimmings and leaves make up between 20 and 30 percent of the trash in the United States.
The initiative will look at four main areas where Hoosiers can reduce food waste: prevention, reuse/recovery, composting and digestion, Hamilton said.
Prevention is the simplest way for people to get involved, Hamilton said. The goal is to teach community members to buy only as much food as they’ll use.
For example, when planning a dinner event for 200 people, people should plan to feed exactly that number instead of making too many extra dishes for hypothetical extra guests, she said.
Hamilton said that under the heading of reuse/recovery, grocery stores and retailers can help by reconsidering the way they judge produce.
Oftentimes, food is wasted because it doesn’t fit an aesthetic “grocery standard” for sellers, who can’t effectively display or sell it, Hamilton said.
“Food banks will take that food and make it into a soup, so the ugliness is not a factor,” she said.
Buffet food can be similarly retooled, she said. If it is properly handled, many buffet offerings could be given to animals.
Composting is made by mixing food waste with leaves and soil and allowing it to decompose into “a rich additive to vegetable and flower gardens,” Hamilton said.
Digestion is a little trickier to implement statewide, Hamilton said, as it concerns the use of machines that can extract the “bio-energy” from decaying food waste.
Hamilton said the first steps overall will be working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to clarify the rules for composting in Indiana and making sure the laws are not a barrier to anyone who wants to get involved locally.
Similarly, Hamilton said she wants to make maps of composting facilities so people can drop off their food waste somewhere convenient.
Backyard composting will work for people with yards, she said, as cities could make compost bins cheap or free with help.
People in apartments may have to find a community garden with a composting program, Hamilton said.
“It’s growing the composting industry in Indiana,” she said. “In time, we hope that cities and towns will help provide resources for those apartment-dwellers.”
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ASF
The main composting ingredients: “Browns” — branches, leaves and twigs
“Greens” — grass clippings, fruit and vegetable waste
Water — for moistening any dry materials
Surprising things you can compost: eggshells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, houseplants, wood chips, dryer and vacuum cleaner lint, hair, fur and nail clippings
Things not to compost: dairy products, fats, oils and greases, meat or fish bones and scraps, yard trimmings that have been treated with pesticide and pet waste
Information from the Environmental Protection Agency
