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Composting is good for the planet. Why don't more cities do it?

Jun 21, 2024
A community program in Baltimore aims to spread "compost fever."
Marvin Hayes, executive director of the Baltimore Compost Collective, which collects food scraps and yard trimmings to compost for use in local gardens. Hayes founded the Baltimore Compost Collective to "starve" the city's trash incinerator.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

Municipal composting helps food scraps find a second life

Jun 29, 2023
More and more cities are implementing food scrap collection to reduce landfill methane emissions and help meet climate targets.
At the Recology facility, workers have to manually remove non-perishable items that people mistakenly throw into green bins — including garden hoses, plastic bags and milk cartons.
Caleigh Wells

Entrepreneurs starting to see opportunities in other people's food scraps

Feb 12, 2018
The Environmental Protection Agency is looking to keep food waste out of landfills. One entrepreneur in rural New Hampshire is pinning her business to that goal.
Jessica Saturley-Hall, founder of the Upper Valley Compost Company, picks up a bucket full of food scraps in Grantham, New Hampshire. 
Britta Greene/Marketplace

Carting New Yorkers' trash to landfills is expensive. One solution: Make less of it.

Aug 4, 2017
A city plan to increase recycling and food composting is in the works.
One idea to get more people recycling in New York is to give them bags with a bar code on it that would attribute the load to a particular apartment. Above, bags of recycling are piled on a Manhattan street.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Composting in New York: Lessons from the West Coast

Jun 17, 2013
Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants New York residents to set aside food scraps in a separate bin. Similar programs are already in place in San Francisco and Seattle.

Compostable dishes more common at holiday tables

Nov 24, 2011
But finding a place to toss them where they'll actually break down is difficult.

I can't compost. What should I do with my leftover coffee grounds?

Aug 25, 2010
In response to Wednesday's story on the problems with coffee cups and K-cups, listener Richard Johnston from New York, sent in this question:...

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