Farmer Mark Compost Hub
You may have heard that composting is a great way to help the environment and reduce climate change—it’s true! In landfills, food scraps give off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, but the same scraps can flight climate change if they’re composted instead of tossed in the trash.
Composting improve soil structure resulting in happier, healthier plants. It helps soil retain moisture, reducing the need for water. It suppresses pests and plant disease, and prevents erosion. It also feeds plants, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. Essentially, compost is great and methane is terrible. Food scraps, the everyday waste that all human create, can either help or hurt the planet.
So how do you do it? If you’re using a green bin or a compost hub (aka, not making compost yourself in a backyard), there are two super simple methods for saving your scraps!
Easiest
The easiest way to start composting is to use the freezer technique. If you have freezer space you can store your scraps in the freezer. You can use a bag, you can use a bag, a bowl, anything will do! No special care, or container, is needed. Leave the scraps in the freezer until you bring them to the hub. That’s it! Bonus: if you use a paper bag, the bag itself can be composted.
Easy
If you have more space on your counter (or under the kitchen sink), and want to participate in the very early stages of composting, a compost bucket, with carbon filters in the lid work great. You could also make your own by punching holes 1/4 inch holes in any lidded plastic container. (Holes are absolutely necessary, without oxygen, your scraps will rot, producing methane). Screen over those holes will keep out fruit flies. Carbon filters do double duty by blocking flies and smells.
If you’re able to bring your compost to a hub each week, there’s no special management needed. Just put the scraps in your bin, and bring them to the hub. If you can’t offload your scraps weekly, (or you’re simply keen on compost working well) you can help your scraps breakdown—reducing the space they take up— by chopping them up before they go into the bin. Adding carbon-rich dry materials like paper and shredded leaves will help your compost breakdown, as will supplying the pile with oxygen by giving it a share or a stir every few days.
Advanced:
If you have a backyard or a fire escape, you can upgrade to a 5 gallon bucket. Buckets will hold more scraps, reducing the need for trips to the compost hub, but more compost means more management. This method works well for folks that have scrap paper, dried leaves, and who don’t mind turning their compost every few days.
Pro
Compost enthusiasts with outdoor space can compost—soup to nuts—right at home. Backyard composting requires balancing “browns,” dry, carbon-rich material like paper and dry leaves, with “greens,” nitrogen-rich materials like coffee grounds and mushy fruit. If your pile gets wet and stinky, add dry leaves or paper and give it a turn. If the pile is dry and nothing is happening, add grass clippings, food scraps, and a little water. When nitrogen and carbon are in balance, your pile will break down into sweet-smelling compost that you can use in your own garden.
Where does the compost go?
What happens to compost at Farmer Mark Compost Hubs? The compost hub at the Playa Vista Farmers’ Market is processed at RC Farms, in Riverside. Chickens scratch around the compost, helping to turn and aerate it. Once it’s processed, they use the compost on their fields. The compost at the Westwood Village Farmers’ Market is picked up by Compostable LA, processed locally by LA Compost, and used in gardens in the city.
Compost is for Everyone
No matter who you are or what sort of space you live in, if you have access to a compost hub, you can fight climate change by composting. On average, every American throwing away approximately 1,200 pounds of compostable waste each year. Those scraps can either contribute to climate change, or fight it. It’s up to you.
Miranda Vallis is a volunteer at Sprouts of Promise