10 - ORGANIC RECYCLING PROGRAM CASE HISTORIESPublication2
Organic Recycling Success Stories CMSD Composting Survey Costa Mesa Sanitary District 628 W. 19th Street Costa Mesa, CA 92627 (949) 645-8400 www.cmsdca.gov Costa Mesa Sanitary District
70 % of CMSD residents surveyed use their compost for gardening. 77 % of CMSD residents indicated they are seeing aesthetic improvements to their landscaping. 93 % are experiencing less
waste in their trash cans as a result of composting 96 % use food waste in their composter. Food scraps for composting Vegetables Fruit Anything made of flour (e.g. old bread,
donuts, cookies, pizza crust, etc.) Grains (cooked or uncooked), rice, barely, etc. Coffee grounds, tea bags, filters Fruit or vegetable pulp from juicing Old spices Outdated
boxed food from the pantry Egg shells Costa Mesa Schools Recycle Organics Many schools in Costa Mesa have acquired composting machines and vermicomposting kits from CMSD. Instead
of throwing food scraps in the trash cans, students can put their scraps in the composting machines and/or vermicomposting kits to develop rich soil amendments for the schools garden.
If your school is not composting, CMSD will donate a machine and kit. Contact CMSD. Waste-free Lunch: Tips for Parents It has been estimated that on average a school-age child using
a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. Instead of packing your child
a typical lunch bag, try using the following tips to help reduce waste from entering the landfill. Sandwiches and other main dishes, fresh fruit, vegetables, cookies, etc. in a reusable
lunch container. Cloth napkin Stainless steel fork and spoon Reusable drink containers and lunchboxes
Success Stories Organics: It’s not waste — it’s a resource Californians throw away nearly 6 million tons of food scraps each year. According to the EPA, food scrap waste generated by
all households in the United States could be piled on a football field more than 15 miles high. Yard trimmings plus food scraps make up nearly a quarter of the total waste stream in
the U.S. There are better uses for this material. In the book “Cradle to Cradle” by architect William McDonough, he promotes the idea that there is no such thin as waste...only resources.
In this way of thinking, any organic waste is either food, fuel or fertilizer. If you purchased a composting machine from the Costa Mesa Sanitary District (CMSD) check out the following
stories on how people are successfully reducing their trash by composting their food waste. If you have not purchased a composting machine from CMSD, visit it’s headquarters at 628 W
19th Street to obtain a composter at a substantial lower cost than retail. CMSD has two different types of composting machines to choose from. Visit www.cmsdca.gov to learn more. Composting
starts in the kitchen Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, collected about 288 tons of food discards for oncampus composting. This saved 75 percent of the college’s food discards
from being disposed of in a landfill. In addition, the composting program saves the college approximately $137 per ton in landfill hauling and tipping fees. As a result, the college
saved more than $27,000 in waste disposal fees a year. YMCA uses compost for its landscaping The Frost Valley YMCA in Claryville, New York, composts 100 percent of its food discards
from its kitchen and dining room and uses the compost in landscaping applications and for an organic garden. By doing so, the Frost Valley facility composts about 80 tons of food scraps
per year and saves nearly $10,000 in waste disposal costs. Family recycles 95% of the organic (food & yard) waste generated in their household Two compost bins are in the backyard working
throughout the year. The family landscaper will dump fresh yard waste next to one of the compost bins. If most of it is very fresh material (like grass clippings), some old leaves will
be mixed in that that was saved from the previous autumn. Mixing equal amounts of fresh and old material creates a mix of high nitrogen (fresh, moist yard waste) and high carbon (old,
dry yard waste) materials to place in the compost bin. The 50/50 mix of carbon and nitrogen provides the ideal “diet” for the bacteria and other decomposers who do the composting! Make
sure that all of this material is nice and moist before mixing it into the yard waste already composting in the compost bin. (If starting out with an empty bin, try to have enough yard
waste to almost fill the Success Stories Continued compost bin to the top!) Since adding new yard waste every week, you would think the compost bin would fill up quickly, but it doesn’t!
This is because as decomposition takes place, the volume of material in the bin is reduced which creates room for more yard waste. Eventually, the bin will fill up but there is a second
compost bin to use. Once the bin is full, manage the composting process by aerating the contents once every two or three weeks. Compost aeration in key to successful composting. It is
done by using a pitchfork or compost turning tool to agitate and mix the composting yard waste, adding new oxygen to the mix that will encourage faster decomposition. While aerating,
check moisture content to make sure the composting material is staying moist. In addition to yard waste, add fruit and/or vegetable waste from the kitchen to compost. Always make sure
it is well buried in the yard waste so that it doesn’t attract flies. In three to four months, all of the yard waste in the compost bins is transformed into finished compost. When composting
is done, begin using the finished compost as a soil amendment or top dress around your yard or garden! Compost all organic matter You can compost all organic matter—kitchen scraps, old
flowers and plants, grass clippings, and yard waste including leaves. When composting food waste, avoid meat and dairy products, but coffee grounds and eggshells are great for composting.
Keep a compost bucket with a charcoal filter (to prevent odors from escaping) under your kitchen sink for scraps, which you then empty into the compost bin in your backyard.