Order goes out for food waste recycling

EDITORIAL

Today we’re talking trash.

Our top Page 1 story discusses the new state law, Senate Bill 1383, designed to keep food waste out of the garbage, and the problem the mandate poses for at least one local city, Hidden Hills.

Starting next year, all households and businesses will be required to steer food waste away from the trash bin. Leftovers that don’t return to the fridge must go with yard clippings and other green waste in a new bin marked “organic waste.” The redirected food waste will have the opportunity to be composted rather than ending up in the landfill, where it putrefies and creates dangerous methane gas.

Methane was a frequently heard buzzword at the recent world climate change conference in Glasgow because the gas carries a global warming potential considered to be many times greater than that of carbon dioxide.

Naturally occurring methane from animals and plant decomposition has been around for eons, but the more recent anthropogenic (human-influenced) methane gas has upped the stakes and poses a serious threat to the environment. Over the last two centuries, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled, largely due to human-related activities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

Methane is a common gas created by animals; it is also released as a result of human activities such as agriculture, fossil fuel production, and rotting landfills. And much of what rots inside landfills like the one at Calabasas is food waste.

In the recycling business, the term organic waste has a different meaning than the word organic as it relates to farming. An organic product is one grown without chemical fertilizers, stimulants, antibiotics or pesticides. Organic waste, on the other hand, is a byproduct of living organisms that is capable of being turned into compost, mulch or biofuel. Examples of organic waste include green waste, food waste, and food-soiled paper and packaging. It needs to be composted, not rotted into gas.

Until recently, recycling has focused mainly on items such as cans, bottles, paper, cardboard, and plastic. But when California passed SB 1383 in 2016, the mandate required 75% of all organic waste be recycled by 2025.

Folks have been diligent about recycling their non-organic bottles and cans; now the time has come to do the same with organic food leftovers.

The organic waste cans provided by your trash hauler will replace existing green-waste bins and will accommodate both food waste and plant and lawn clippings. Instead of putting those sloppy joes and leftover pizza crusts into the regular trash, use these new containers.

The commercial metal garbage dumpsters collected by haulers such as Waste Management will get cleaned up, repainted, and redistributed. Single-family homes will get new plastic bins.

Let’s use them.

Let’s help the environment.