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226 Comments
- MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -4/+43Actually, this program should be a money maker for the city:
"San Francisco already converts over 400 tons of food scraps and other compostable discards into high-grade organic compost every day.
'It’s so nutrient-rich that the final product is almost jet black in color," writes Newsom today at CleanTechnica. The high quality of compost is "snapped up by farms and vineyards across the Bay Area, we can barely keep up with the demand,' adds Newsom." - sensolock, on 06/24/2009, -24/+57Correct Headline: San Fran Mayor Signs First Eco-Fascist "Law" in U.S.
- markgl, on 06/24/2009, -18/+44That city is nuttier than squirrel turds.
- jer2eydevil88, on 06/24/2009, -27/+52There shouldn't be laws passed about this kind of stuff when the state of California is in such deep financial trouble. Spend more time fixing the budget and worry less about citizen garbage.
- nonfamous, on 06/24/2009, -4/+29You don't need a garden, and you don't need your own compost bin. The city gives you a separate green bin, and the city picks it the food and garden waste up once a week along with the garbage. I just moved to SF, and it's really easy. Leaves more room in the regular garbage for old styrofoam. :)
- MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -21/+40Good for them. Everyone benefits by composting - you take something useless, and you turn it into something useful. The city sells the compost at a profit, farmers get high grade compost to fertilize their fields, fewer landfills are required, etc.
I know it seems fascist to force people to compost, but I don't see how it's any different from forcing people to dispose of all their other waste properly. That is, you will already get fined if you put garbage where it doesn't belong. With this new program, you can get fined if you put compost where it doesn't belong. Same diff, just more of it, and it's easy to do. - MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -6/+25You don't pay taxes? You don't follow speed limits? You don't drive on the right side of the road? You wouldn't pay child support? You don't put your garbage in the garbage can, then put it out for the garbage men to take away? You don't pay for goods and services? You didn't attend school until the age of 16? I could probably go on...
- Bukowsky, on 06/24/2009, -1/+15man, i've been wanting to start a compost pile in my backyard. But it just seems like a lot of work. Not sure how I feel about it being mandatory, since most people don't really like being told what to do.
I doubt the majority of people will follow it, and would they enforce it? Garbage men looking through your trash for food scraps? - mrogi, on 06/24/2009, -1/+15Never thought there would be a law that forces people to literally get their ***** together.
- darkism, on 06/24/2009, -13/+26This is a load of nanny-state *****.
Pun intended. - plainOldFool, on 06/24/2009, -3/+15So you are your neighbors are douche bags that can't keep your noses out of other people's business?
- Tinkered, on 06/24/2009, -5/+17Wait, what impact does the city of San Francisco passing a law about composting have on the California state budget? The answer is very little. Thanks for the red herring though.
- bob_the_alien, on 06/24/2009, -1/+13I've had a compost pile for years, it's called "Puppy" it wonders around my farm, any and all food scraps I give it, are devoured and gone within 30 seconds, and within a day or so later they're get converted to fertilizer somewhere on the farm.
- darkism, on 06/24/2009, -2/+13It sounds like you and your neighbors need to learn how to mind your own business.
- MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -9/+20Why would they do that? Composting isn't hard, and they could ***** up their plumbing.
- theberlindoctor, on 06/24/2009, -5/+15If you give man an incentive to do something, he will do it happily. If you force a man to do something at point of punishment, then you're a dick.
- zephc, on 06/24/2009, -7/+17I'm all for composting but requiring it by law? Even regular recycling isn't required by law. Where are you supposed to compost if you live in the 10th story of a high rise apartment building with no balcony? Do they expect you to just keep it in the kitchen or something, or do you get to take the elevator down to the first floor to dump your leftover plant scraps?
Sorry, but this is just a bit over the line - better to make it easy to do for people *voluntarily* than try and enforce it as law. - cheddaro, on 06/24/2009, -13/+23Got to love the government legislating every thing you do, right down to how you sort your garbage.
California is such a waste of an otherwise beautiful piece of land. - borez, on 06/24/2009, -3/+13What happens if you don't have a garden?
- GriffCo, on 06/24/2009, -12/+22Why are they so concerned with the organic matter going to the landfills? That is what breaks down in the landfill and powers the methane gas power plants MANY landfills are creating. This law just undermines landfills' efforts to try and create good from their landfill.
Plus when you make a compost you don't trap the methane and just allow it to escape. When the landfill does it they burn it and turn it into power, reducing the amount of coal needed. So by enacting this bill you are not only releasing the methane, but also needing to burn the coal that the methane would've replaced.
So this is eco friendly -2. I'm not even that into the "green movement" mostly because of policies like this. - LBWayward, on 06/24/2009, -4/+13Flushing food down the toilet is easier than dropping it in the compost box for collection?
- inactive, on 06/24/2009, -3/+12"It’s so nutrient-rich that the final product is almost jet black in color,"
---
OM NOM NOM NOM!
On a more serious note, I like the idea of turning SF into a compost pile. - AmnesiacJack, on 06/24/2009, -1/+10So when can we start growing crops in our yards?
I know several major cities that make it so you can basically just grow grass and things such as corn are considered a blight upon the neighborhood. - GroundLifter, on 06/24/2009, -1/+10I hope more people read your comment. I'm sure not only is it easy but if the entire city participated the compost pile would be so large that methane gas could be extracted from it and used as a power source. It's just like recycling your plastics, paper or glass but actually more useful.
I find many of the comments from the other folks on here and angry and naive. - Antialias, on 06/24/2009, -0/+9They are collecting the compost materials I think? Half the point was that the city will sell the compost meaning they have to get all the organic waste to a central spot.
- MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -2/+10Still sounds like you pay taxes. Also sounds like you're not very familiar with the law. You are required to go to school until you are 16, otherwise you will be charged with truancy. You are required to pay for goods and services, otherwise you can be sued or charged with theft. You may enjoy littering, but you can be fined for it, and you're a slob.
But I'm glad you don't drive. By walking, biking or taking public transportation, you reduce your carbon footprint. Everyone should follow your example. - MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -6/+14I think people are not required to actually keep a compost pile near them, they are only required to put their compostables into a separate container, which the city picks up and brings to a centralized composting location. So the AIDS patient wouldn't experience anything worse than he would experience with normal trash. That's my understanding, anyway.
- nonymous666, on 06/24/2009, -1/+9Residents don't have to start a compost pile. The city has a collection program where they take the scraps you put out for them and they'll compost it for you.
- Antialias, on 06/24/2009, -0/+8It smells a bit when you open it but mostly just like a pile of yard debris. Like if you've ever had a pile of decaying lawn clippings or whatever.
I would say I probably spend less than 30 minutes a week "tending" it. Maybe a bit more if you count the extra time I spend putting food scraps, in the bin in the kitchen instead of just throwing everything in the garbage.
I'm not sure how it works once your bin is "full" since the compost at the bottom would be done but the top would need more time to break down. There is a door at the bottom of ours you can shovel compost out of though. Still new to the whole process - Antialias, on 06/24/2009, -6/+14I hope you don't drive on our roads then. Or ever call the police or fire services. You can't take the good and leave the bad. Society doesn't work that way.
- MalarkeyPN, on 06/24/2009, -6/+13You didn't answer how this is any more fascist than forcing people to put garbage into garbage cans / having litter laws. Either both laws are fascist, or neither are.
And it turns out they don't actually even need to compost the stuff, they just need to put it into a separate container which is then picked up and taken to a city-wide composting facility. That's not doing "work," it's just changing your routine. - WasabiBomb, on 06/24/2009, -0/+7Damn, I wish there was a way to recycle styrofoam. That stuff is evil.
- Mike17102, on 06/24/2009, -2/+9Thanks for proving our point, comrade.
Anyone who wants a nanny state to wipe their ass for them has plenty of armpits in the EU to pick from. - asgardshill, on 06/24/2009, -2/+9I have a compost pile myself. But people are basically lazy and are not going to go to the trouble of starting one if they're not otherwise inclined to do so, law or no law. Hence, FLUSH!
(Alternate scenario - they'll just dump the food scraps into their neighbor's trash cans.) - dagnome1984, on 06/24/2009, -10/+17Yes, San Fransisco is a great example of how America is progressing back to fuedalism. A place where you are required to work for the state overlords without compensation.
- apackofmonkeys, on 06/24/2009, -3/+9So refusing to bow to the eco-freaks' every whim results in violence done to you? Yeah, that's totally fair.
- PM08, on 06/24/2009, -3/+9Just curious, does your government require the recycling? Or do you just have crazy neighbors?
- edrodgers731, on 06/24/2009, -0/+6Don't call them on their *****. It just pisses them off. Never point out the ideological part of enviro-fanaticism. The "extra" carbon released by man accounts for .0011 of the total greenhouse gasses, but whenever you talk about it in public, make sure you don't mention water vapor, or methane. They hate that. They are starting to jump on methane, but until the average eco-fascist starts painting it on signs, just stick with Co2.
Just keep buying mercury-filled light bulbs, and keep glass out of landfills, (green knows we don't want silica sand in the dirt!), and just do what you are told. Make sure you buy a car with at least 600 pounds of lead in it's batteries, and make sure you avoid all plastics. We need to keep the toxic petroleum around rather than converting it to harmless hydrocarbon chains in the form of plastics. Never mention that oil and plastic are equally non-biodegradable, and only one of them is toxic.
You are just going to get dugg down to oblivion, and you will never convince a single one of them that a few of their religious beliefs about being good environmental citizens weren't too well thought out.
Not that I have anything against a good compost pile. I just don't think we should force people to participate in municipal fund raising under the guise of green behavior. - nosecohn, on 06/24/2009, -0/+6Note to folks... you have to turn the pile occasionally because there's a risk of fire otherwise.
- freshyill, on 06/24/2009, -0/+6There is. The UPS store (and probably most shipping places) will take used packing peanuts and reuse them. I recently ordered a set of dishes from Target that came in two huge boxes, that were like 5% dishes and 95% packing peanuts.
Sure, it's not making it go away, but if the stuff's not going to fall apart, you might as well keep reusing it.
Shipping companies could probably earn some easy green cred by promoting the fact that they'll take your packing peanuts. They could easily encourage people to bring them in with the lure of a small discount on an order. - freshyill, on 06/24/2009, -3/+9Yeah, it's crazy to compost organic waste. People who recycle are ***** up too.
- damnmonkey, on 06/24/2009, -3/+9Too much ass-play.
- Antialias, on 06/24/2009, -0/+6It's not that much work really, you buy a bin for like $40, then just dump a small plastic container of kitchen waste out there at the end of every day. I only "mix" mine with one of those twisty prong soild mulching tools once every couple of weeks. I've been doing it for 4 months now and have yet to fill a 4 foot high 4 foot diameter bin. I fill it to the top every time I mow the lawn and by the next week it's down to like a foot high of stuff in there. Breaks down amazingly fast.
- asgardshill, on 06/24/2009, -13/+19People will just start flushing food scraps down the toilet. Untraceable.
- GrodyChamp, on 06/24/2009, -5/+11Isn't SF already a compost pile?
- BrewmasterC, on 06/24/2009, -3/+8Just burn it for energy like Ames, IA does: http://www.cityofames.org/worksweb/ResourceRecover ...
Doesn't having bacteria and mold metabolize the refuse into CO2 create a similar carbon footprint? - nosecohn, on 06/24/2009, -1/+6No, you're not required to compost the items yourself. The law says you have to separate your organic matter from your regular trash (like you already do for recyclables in most cities) so that the municipal services can pick them up and turn them into compost. The city then sells the composted items as fertilizer.
- Dhalsim007, on 06/24/2009, -1/+6I bet Newsome (or someone in his family or a top supporter) has a major stake in the compost bins San Fran will be requiring! Just like Al Gore and his carbon-offset-trading business.
- plainOldFool, on 06/24/2009, -0/+5Don't put meat, fats or bread in and turn it up a few times a week and it shouldn't stink too badly.
I highly recommend getting a aerator tool to do the turning. We've had a composter for over a year and we just got an aerator. Turning up compost with a shovel is annoying. The aerator makes it much easier. - pierrelourens, on 06/24/2009, -1/+6They aren't going to enforce it, because it's not really enforceable. For that matter, the law is just a motivator, a guideline. And wouldn't "spending a little money on marketing" cost more than signing a law?
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