Great post Peter (and very timely, what with all those cooking scraps from Thanksgiving). I've been looking into composting possibilities for our NYC apartment as well as for our building, which has 12 apartments and is trying to be green minded. The composter you mentioned above is a bit big for small NYC kitchens (and, btw, seems to be currently unavailable) and I'm wondering if you or any readers are familiar with the "Happy Farmer Kitchen Composter" (http://www.scdworld.net/product_p/b100-1.htm, among other places). It's considerably smaller and works using something called Bokashi.

Finding a solution for our building is tough because we don't have any communal space indoors or outdoors. If we make compost individually, we'll probably end up bringing it to nearby community gardens or maybe even just putting it around trees on the sidewalk.

This project is part of a program our building is embarking on to be more eco conscious. We're also replacing our toilets and shower heads, and trying to figure out how to install a green roof (not easy on our 100 year old wood joisted roof). We already upgraded our hall and stairway lighting and replaced our roof with a light colored material.

Our impetus for composting is not so much using the compost, since we don't have any plants here (I know, I know -- what kind of greenies are we?), as in diminishing the waste stream. Collecting and getting rid of garbage in NYC is an increasingly big problem. If compostables were removed from that system, it'd be that much less of a problem.

Would love to hear any feedback for that Bokashi composter or other suggestions!

David Bergman
Columnist, Going Green Blog

Hey David-

Hmmm. Tough one. I looked at the composter you mentioned and it looks like it would not be ideal for your application. Basically it is a bin that you can store inside and keep stable while you wait to take it out. That would work great ONLY if you have someplace to take it to really compost later (as you mentioned like to a community garden). Regarding the Envirocycle composter, I did a quick search and found a number of places that are selling it. I got mine from Amazon believe it or not, but it's available many places. As far as space goes, it takes up about the same amount of space as a trash barrel so perhaps you can fit it wherever your trash is going out to?

Good luck and hope the turkey treated you right!

Peter Kellner
Columnist, Going Green Blog

glad to hear people talking about the importance of composting... for a long time I have been concerned that so much of our food waste, and all the essential nutrients stored inside, ends up in toxic landfills. Perhaps it is still a ways off, but I can imagine a future in which we must resort to extremely costly and energy-intensive methods to separate essential elements (e.g. Phosphorous and Potassium) from landfill waste.

For a while I had a worm composting bin, which was much less gross than it sounds and I must admit, I actually thought it was really cool... thinking about those worms dutifully transforming my food scraps into something that smelled like a forest after a spring rain. Alas, I ended up getting rid of it when I moved into a new apartment that didn't have a good place for it (I had been keeping it in the basement). And I am embarrassed to disclose that, after that, despite my conviction that composting is simply the right thing to do... years passed before I resumed my composting ways. Why? Oh, I don't know... distraction, apathy, selfishness... not really sure - I guess I don't have a good excuse.

I am now composting again, and thrilled to be doing so, but this time I can't take any credit for this responsible act. I live in Berkeley, CA and I am happy to report that the town just instituted weekly curbside composting. It's great... and I'm not talking about just yard waste - they'll take pretty much anything that will break down (chicken bones, milk cartons, veggies, etc.), and it's so easy! It would be great if more towns followed suit... By the way, does anybody out there know if they have any kind of quality control on the compost that results? I wonder if they're just trusting town residents to keep toxics out of their bins, or if they examine the stuff in any way (e.g. occasional random samples). Or perhaps they do some chemical testing at the end of the whole process?

On another note, does anyone know why, in the generally progressive SF Bay Area, you can't recycle plastic containers unless the opening is smaller than the rest of the container? For instance, yogurt and hummus containers (two trademarks of the stereotypical recycler) cannot be recycled! This seems completely idiotic to me... I assume it has something to do with the local markets/processing facilities, but I don't get it. If these markets exist in New England, which they do, then why can't a similar operation work here?

Hi There-

Thanks for your comments on compost. I wanted to follow up on two items you mentioned; compost testing, and recycleables. Regarding the testing of compost, I did a tour of the facility a few years ago and they do periodically test the outgoing compost, but not on a regular basis. One of the really nice things about compost though is that it breaks down more than just the normal nutrients and can very effectively process small amounts of otherwise toxic items such as VOC's.

About recycling plastics, I think either you've been misinformed or the situation may have changed as the market for recycleables has grown and evolved. If you view the website for the SF recycling company (http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/recycling_information.htm) they specifically note that plastic tubs and lids ARE recycleable. As far as I know the only things that aren't recycleable in general are #3 (which is PVC) and #6 (polystyrene).

Peter Kellner
Columnist, Going Green Blog

My family is trying to go as green as possible. Little by little we have been making our changes, 85 % of my house (inside and out) is lighted by power compacts, I am trying to start a petition to our home owners association to allow solar panels on my roof, and just before Thanksgiving I started a compost bin. It is a DIY 32 gallon garbage bin with holes drilled up and down the sides, it was going really well until last night. We had high winds over the last two days with gusts of up to 50+ mph. I was very unhappy to wake up to see compost all over my yard and then frozen because the temp dropped 30 degrees in about two hours. Frozen coffee grounds all over a patio is not a good thing. I am determined and just need to find a better place or figure out how to anchor it down.
The biggest reason I want to compost if for the benefit of free and good fertilizer for my gared and flower beds. Slowly but surely we are trying to make a difference and getting my kids involved with every step I hope will set them in the right direction too.