Compost now

photo credit kirstyhall

I have taken this intense interest in composting this past year. Yes, I meant to use the word intense. Intense like it occupies 80% of my thought process throughout the day, second only to basic survival instincts like breathing and eating. And why shouldn't it? Why shouldn't I spend an entire date night with my husband trying not to let it show on my face that I'm not listening to him and instead I'm thinking of all the black gold that could be made with steady stream of food waste the lovely restaurant we are eating at produces on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

The facts are this:

• 70-90% of waste from a restaurant is compostable
• 30-50% of household waste is compostable
• 14% of municipal solid waste is compostable
• landfills account for a full 20 percent of America's methane production
  
  reference: http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/much-waste-can-save-composting-20359.html

These are big numbers, but no one seems to notice the compostable elephant poop in the room. 

San Francisco is on track to become the first zero waste city with the implementation of a city wide composting mandate. 

In 2009, San Francisco became the first city in the country to require that residents and businesses alike separate from their trash compostable items, like food scraps, and recyclable goods, like paper, metals, and plastic, into separate bins.
And that has led to a big reduction in the amount of garbage headed to the landfill, according to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

With a few modifications to how we each go through our daily lives, isn't becoming zero waste, or as close to it as possible, something we can achieve across the entire United States? And more importantly, isn't it necessary?