My neighborhood compost dropoff taught me more than any blog did

I started taking food scraps to the community compost site near my apartment in Portland about 2 months ago. The volunteer there showed me how to layer browns and greens, which I always mixed up. Now I save about 3 gallons a week of scraps that would have gone to the landfill. It feels weirdly satisfying to see the finished soil get used in the local garden plots. Has anyone else tried a dropoff program and found it changed their waste habits?

1 comments

1 Comment

joel28010d agoProlific Poster

The whole "weirdly satisfying" part is where we part ways. I've used the dropoff near my work for a year now, and honestly it just feels like an extra chore. I don't get any joy from hauling a bucket of smelly scraps across town in the rain. The volunteer's tips on layering never clicked for me either, because at home I still throw way too much food in the trash. The program is fine for what it is, but it hasn't changed my habits one bit. I'd rather see the city pick up curbside like they do for recycling, otherwise most people won't bother.