A french supermarket chain fights food waste and sees an increase in sales as a result. Hypercool!
Posts Tagged ‘Compost’
Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables
Sunday, August 24, 2014Weekly Compactor
Tuesday, April 8, 2014A long overdue roundup of trash in the news:
- The search for the missing Malaysian plane brought to light many crazy facts. It also drew attention to the crazy amounts of trash floating in the world’s oceans.
- Donald Robertson artwork brings new cache to trash, which he sells to wealthy New Yorkers.
- Co.Exist featured some clever hacks around New York City that upcycle discarded items into useful objects for everyone.
- I want one of these chairs.
Compost Mobile
Wednesday, October 5, 2011Compost Mobile is a neat new project in Miami that matches people with food scraps to urban farmers in need of compost. The rallying call? “We want your scraps!” They are also the first ever recipient of an Awesome Food Grant. More here.
Thanks for the tip, Soraya!
Mill City Farmer’s Market
Monday, August 22, 2011I’m in Minneapolis for the weekend visiting my mom. The weather is perfect and we’ve been biking a lot. We usually go to the big farmer’s market, which is one of my favorite open air markets in the whole world. This time, though, we popped just over the river from my mom’s place to the Mill City Farmer’s Market tucked adorably between the Mill City Museum and the new Guthrie Theater. Minneapolis recently licensed food trucks, so like many other places across the country, street food is all the rage here. We ate some yummy tacos before browsing the Hmong vegetable stalls, Nepali momo stand, Iranian gourmet chocolate table, the cute sundress shop and all kinds of other delectable vendor offerings.
Best eggplant ever
There was some live music playing and people were out in droves, sitting on the Guthrie steps to eat and listen and milling about the market. When my mom and I were done with our tacos (and, later, some ginger sorbet) we tossed our disposable packaging and utensils into one of the large compost bins prominently on display and STAFFED by local volunteers to help you decide what went into which bin.
Compost tutor
I couldn’t get over the staffed composting bins. Ours gave us a helpful lecture on why he felt composting was way better than recycling, stopping between impassioned sentences to direct the disposal of plates and cups. I love seeing the can labeled “trash” dwarfed in size compared to the other receptacles.
Raccoon attacks
Friday, July 22, 2011Oh the hazards of composting. The raccoons are out in Richmond, Canada, attacking people and their pets. Especially the pets. The Vancouver Sun reports:
One theory is the recent advent of the city’s Green Can program, which encourages residents to recycle food scraps — a common source of food for raccoons.
Some believe the scraps are more accessible in the new Green Cans and more odorous than they were previously in regular garbage cans, providing a greater attraction for the raccoons.
via the Vancouver Sun
Once when I was a kid there were rumors of a rabid raccoon in our neighborhood. My mother tried to keep us from going out on our own and walked around everywhere with a softball bat. More recently, I was walking home in Brooklyn one night and saw a raccoon run down the steps into a Subway station. A train must have just arrived because it came running out a few seconds later, scared off by the small crowd of exiting passengers. I’d hate to be alone on the platform if it ever tried again!
I often wish my city collected food waste for composting. Today is not one of those times.
Garbage Revolution
Tuesday, May 24, 2011In case you missed it, Uma Viswanathan had a lovely HuffPo piece last week on a youth program composting organic food waste in Haiti. It’s called the Nouvelle Vie Haiti Youth Corps, a project of the International Association of Human Values.
I don’t know anything about this group, but a glance at their philosophy, here, makes me curious to dig deeper.
This weekend my aunt and younger cousins told me they are planning a trip to Haiti to volunteer at an orphanage. They are a service-oriented family and my aunt was interested in taking her daughters to a developing country for the first time. It was hard, my aunt said, to find a nonreligious volunteer program.
I look forward to hearing about their experience. And to learning more about Nouvelle Vie Haiti’s work on sanitation and other development projects.
GrowNYC posters
Friday, April 8, 2011Local nonprofit GrowNYC sends informative emails and has a fantastic website if you’re interested in innovative environmental programs. Sign up for their listserv or follow them on social media. My favorite tidbit from their most recent update is this cute poster series.
via GrowNYC
Recycle, comost or trash?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010Ever had trouble distinguishing among the above? McSweeney’s offers this helpful guide.
Fresh stuff at Freshkills
Friday, August 7, 2009New Yorkers, mark your calendars for two upcoming tours of Freshkills Park! The first requires a whopping $2 entry fee; the second one is free. Both require RSVPs.
Fresh Kills Park: Draft Master Plan, NYC.gov
The Staten Island Compost Project presents a Freshkills Park Compost Workshop
Saturday, August 29, 2009
12:00pm -2:00 pm @ the Freshkills Park site (a Parks bus will pick up at the St. George Ferry Terminal)
Nearly half of what we throw away could be composted and returned to the earth. Composting at home reduces the cost of yard trimming collection and processing, keeps kitchen waste out of the landfill, and turns organic material into a valuable amendment for gardens and houseplants. Best of all, it’s easy.
Join us as Mark Bigelow, Director of the Staten Island Compost Project, teaches us about the different ways to compost, the science behind the process, ways to ensure healthy compost and how to troubleshoot common issues. The workshop will be held on top of North Mound at the Freshkills Park site, with expansive views of the former landfill and the Department of Sanitation’s ongoing operations at the municipal compost facility. A tour of the site will accompany the workshop.
Space is limited, and registration is $2 per person to support the cost of demonstration materials and compost tip sheets. To register, please email freshkillspark@parks.nyc.gov with the subject heading “Composting Event” or call (212) 788-8277.
Staten Island OutLOUD presents The Poetry of Robert Frost
Saturday, September 12, 2009
12:30pm-2:30pm @ the Freshkills Park site (a Parks bus will pick up at the Eltingville Transit Center)
One of America’s most important poets, Robert Frost’s meditations on nature are considered to be some of the finest reflections on the complex relationship between humans and the natural world.
Please join us as Staten Island OutLOUD, a community dialogue and performance project, presents the Poetry of Robert Frost, a reading and conversation on the author. The readings will be held on top of North Mound at the Freshkills Park site, with expansive views of the former landfill and the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge. A tour of the site will accompany the readings.
Space is limited. To register, please email freshkillspark@parks.nyc.gov with the subject heading “SI OutLOUD” or call (212) 788-8277.
The Waterpod Project
Wednesday, July 22, 2009Check it: The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC) will host a couple “nuts and bolts” recycling and composting workshops “aboard the waterpod”. What’s the Waterpod, you ask? According to the Internets, it’s “a floating, sculptural, eco-habitat designed for the rising tides.”
Sketch via http://www.thewaterpod.org
At the moment, the thing is parked at 125th Street and Riverside park, which is what caught my eye about the project in the CENYC email newsletter I received yesterday. Growing up on Riverside Drive at 125th Street, I observed many half-assed attempts to class up the waterfront at this location. It appears that with the West Harlem Piers Park, we’ve come a long way from the sketchy strip of my childhood when—to the extent living things populated this area—you would only see stray cats, hookers, johns, junkies and lunatic fishermen willing to eat from the (pre-Riverkeeper) Hudson.
This new park connects Riverside Park with Riverbank State Park (built on top of the sewage treatment plant at 135th Street) and encompasses the old marine transfer station between the two points where, once upon a time, my trash was tipped out of a dump truck and onto a ferry to be floated down to the Freshkills landfill (now also a park).
Anyway, the Waterpod sounds amazing. Sadly, the recycling and composting workshops being offered are during my workday. Regardless, I will try to get up there to check out the pod and waterfront renovations. Stay tuned.
everydaytrash 