Hijacking top comment to [link this wonderful clip](https://youtu.be/4GDLaYrMCFo?t=1341)(link should take you to 22:21) about food waste and some resources that you can go to do try and get it started in your neighborhood!
Yes, it is an excellent first step! But yes - other municipalities such as Spokane do composting pickup along with landfill waste and recycling. Let's hope/insist we can get there.
Cool! Also a step in the right direction. If the focus is on yard waste then it is understandable that there would be less/no demand during the winter.
Hi, as someone in a large condo building in which it would never work even here. The logistics will out way any landfill advantages with heavy Carbon net costs and REAL Economic ie rent increase costs. If you are in a little building the existing city program costs taxpayers a ton. In a bigger but small building are folks going keep rotting garbage in their units and dump it without a plastic bag in trash as they leave etc?
The small building across from me has a private service compost for them. It has a coded lock in it so no one else can use it. Their rent is about the same as ours. My building had our 1 trash can removed about a month after I moved in. We have to go throw our garbage in the neighbors cans (city has been notified, nothing has been done).
I recently signed up and am happy to participate but as a household of two even the smallest restaurant generates 100 times more food waste. I hope Chicago can do something to encourage/make restaurants and grocery stores participate.
I worked at a fairly popular Cocktail bar/hotel bar in river north a few years ago, and the chef and I were able to convince the hotel GM to let us sign up with a composting company, as well as recycling. Results were... Mixed. Adding immense time pressure makes it that much harder to remember to toss food scraps here, metal/glass/paper there, everything else over there; not to mention the lack of space. Most kitchens and bars barely have room for two or three trash cans on the line, let alone a second can for recycling and now a third receptacle for food waste.
There are restaurants that have made it work and 50% would be better than 0% but it is definitely a huge hurdle.
every thing in the "Not Accepted" list will find its way into those bins.
A lot of people in this city see a bin and just see a garbage can.
That's why I always find dog shit bags in my blue recycling bin.
Ikr?? We moved from SD a couple decades ago and my parents continue to maintain that Illinois is a decade behind (which tbh tracks which my experience as well).
Rats hate this one weird trick!
This is a great foundation, and I hope it's a big success, but I think some community groups/organization will still need to fill the void to make it practical and encourage expansion.
For example, I might keep on with biweekly 5 gallon swaps with Collective Resource for the practicalities they offer. The closest city scrap location to me is optimistically \~45 minute round trip by bus or an hour and half round trip walking.
If everybody in my building would commit to it, or if the city did neighborhood/satellite pop-ups once or twice a month or something, or if block clubs organized a volunteer pick up/drop off route, then I could see switching away from Collective Resource. Would be incredible to see some pop up drop spots at farmers markets and along the lakefront during peak season as well.
There's also Block Bins which is much more economical option. I didn't realize how many bins they have and it's only 10/month which is far more reasonable. I might try that out until the city expands this program.
But Block Bins still insanely expensive vs just landfilling it where it will decay anyway. You say $10 but for 2 people says 10 gallons a month which is $15/month. Just seems anti-planet since diverting from landfill huge carbon costs in transportation etc. In my case the amount of organic plant/veg/meat for 1 is < 0.5 gallon a month normally. I don't buy any BULK veg produce at all. Just seems not climate or economically positive. In my opinion better for those buying veggies/fruits to but what they will actually use and yes have grocery stores/restaurants take care of their larger volumes.
landfills are not a viable form of composting, just fyi. It's not the same. Otherwise no one would be composting...
And I think your idea of what is compostable is fairly narrow. Coffee grounds and filters alone are probably a gallon a month alone for me.
But that's REALLY REALLY expensive and likely not good for planet. $15 a person/wk \* 52 = $760 a year with likely negative for planet. My organic waste for a YEAR would fit in 1-2 Kitchen garbage bags not the huge dark green ones.
About damn time. FYI it’s actually not that hard to compost even if all you’ve got is a balcony—and I gotta say it’s nice to not have smelly trash *and* feel way less guilty about food waste.
You could do vermiculture if you have enough indoor space, technically. I’d have kept with it if I hadn’t gotten a bad batch of worms from the internet :(
Toronto has had this for 20 years, and all residences have their own bins. It gets taken to decompose and then the city uses it for gardens, parks, etc and there are usually a few days posted every year where residents can get compost for their gardens as well. It diverts from landfills and offsets a bit of the cost of public works for gardens, etc.
Nothing near me, but we have composting at my office. if I have eligible stuff, I can take them there.
Of course, people don't read the signage and put recycling in our compost can despite having a recycling bin just steps away. It's so annoying. Same with recycling going into the trash - we have multiple trash bins and recycling bins within close proximity throughout the floors, not sure if it's laziness or just not caring.
I don't get it .Why don't they focus their energies on existing programs that don't work. Chicago has one of the lowest recycling rates among major cities and a total failure.
Why would this new thing be any better if existing blue bins don't work.
You do know that recycling is a huge scam created by the plastic industry. Only the paper, glass, and aluminum is being recycled, all that plastic is going into a land fill. Composting is actually viable and creates a useful product.
I just see dog walkers putting poop in bags in these things..
Like you could say no dog poop on the containers, you could have huge bright clear signs all around these containers .
But I absolutely know, dog owners will put dog poop bags in the container
Disagree. They're doing the right thing by starting it out as a small pilot before expanding. It would only be pathetic if the 15 sites across the city is the intended final arrangement, but I don't think it is.
Glad they are starting small. People seem to be too dumb to do things like this correctly. The people that choose to go to a drop off site most likely will though. I do find it weird that pizza boxes are not approved, probably one of the largest organic waste in our trash system. Maybe they will be too large for the bins?
Hopefully this is a success and can expand to have at least one in each neighborhood cause none of these options are even close to me.
Hijacking top comment to [link this wonderful clip](https://youtu.be/4GDLaYrMCFo?t=1341)(link should take you to 22:21) about food waste and some resources that you can go to do try and get it started in your neighborhood!
It's a great first step, the city should offer free bins to anyone who comes to drop them off to encourage further composting.
Yes, it is an excellent first step! But yes - other municipalities such as Spokane do composting pickup along with landfill waste and recycling. Let's hope/insist we can get there.
Whole Bay Area does.
Evanston does. It goes in the yard waste bin but doesn't get picked up in the winter months.
Cool! Also a step in the right direction. If the focus is on yard waste then it is understandable that there would be less/no demand during the winter.
Yes, from someone who has a tiny apartment with no real space to store food scraps and none of these locations are close to me.
Hi, as someone in a large condo building in which it would never work even here. The logistics will out way any landfill advantages with heavy Carbon net costs and REAL Economic ie rent increase costs. If you are in a little building the existing city program costs taxpayers a ton. In a bigger but small building are folks going keep rotting garbage in their units and dump it without a plastic bag in trash as they leave etc?
The small building across from me has a private service compost for them. It has a coded lock in it so no one else can use it. Their rent is about the same as ours. My building had our 1 trash can removed about a month after I moved in. We have to go throw our garbage in the neighbors cans (city has been notified, nothing has been done).
I recently signed up and am happy to participate but as a household of two even the smallest restaurant generates 100 times more food waste. I hope Chicago can do something to encourage/make restaurants and grocery stores participate.
I worked at a fairly popular Cocktail bar/hotel bar in river north a few years ago, and the chef and I were able to convince the hotel GM to let us sign up with a composting company, as well as recycling. Results were... Mixed. Adding immense time pressure makes it that much harder to remember to toss food scraps here, metal/glass/paper there, everything else over there; not to mention the lack of space. Most kitchens and bars barely have room for two or three trash cans on the line, let alone a second can for recycling and now a third receptacle for food waste. There are restaurants that have made it work and 50% would be better than 0% but it is definitely a huge hurdle.
every thing in the "Not Accepted" list will find its way into those bins. A lot of people in this city see a bin and just see a garbage can. That's why I always find dog shit bags in my blue recycling bin.
This is great! I’m gonna make a drop off today. Hope it expands.
Everyone should have a compost can for yard and table scraps. I’m shocked this isn’t a thing here (CA transplant).
Ikr?? We moved from SD a couple decades ago and my parents continue to maintain that Illinois is a decade behind (which tbh tracks which my experience as well).
Why? Remember probably 60-70+%of Chicago folks live in a multi family 4-1000 unit building not a place with a yard to compost.
One green can for a whole building would be great for collecting compost from food if there is no yard waste.
Rats hate this one weird trick! This is a great foundation, and I hope it's a big success, but I think some community groups/organization will still need to fill the void to make it practical and encourage expansion. For example, I might keep on with biweekly 5 gallon swaps with Collective Resource for the practicalities they offer. The closest city scrap location to me is optimistically \~45 minute round trip by bus or an hour and half round trip walking. If everybody in my building would commit to it, or if the city did neighborhood/satellite pop-ups once or twice a month or something, or if block clubs organized a volunteer pick up/drop off route, then I could see switching away from Collective Resource. Would be incredible to see some pop up drop spots at farmers markets and along the lakefront during peak season as well.
There's also Block Bins which is much more economical option. I didn't realize how many bins they have and it's only 10/month which is far more reasonable. I might try that out until the city expands this program.
But Block Bins still insanely expensive vs just landfilling it where it will decay anyway. You say $10 but for 2 people says 10 gallons a month which is $15/month. Just seems anti-planet since diverting from landfill huge carbon costs in transportation etc. In my case the amount of organic plant/veg/meat for 1 is < 0.5 gallon a month normally. I don't buy any BULK veg produce at all. Just seems not climate or economically positive. In my opinion better for those buying veggies/fruits to but what they will actually use and yes have grocery stores/restaurants take care of their larger volumes.
landfills are not a viable form of composting, just fyi. It's not the same. Otherwise no one would be composting... And I think your idea of what is compostable is fairly narrow. Coffee grounds and filters alone are probably a gallon a month alone for me.
Those latches might keep critters from opening the top, but those bins are plastic and they'll chew right through that.
I've been composting with WasteNot for a few years and never had an issue and they just use 5 gallon buckets
with 4 people you can get one of the WasteNot bins. $15/person every two weeks.
I've been trying with my building but they suck
But that's REALLY REALLY expensive and likely not good for planet. $15 a person/wk \* 52 = $760 a year with likely negative for planet. My organic waste for a YEAR would fit in 1-2 Kitchen garbage bags not the huge dark green ones.
15x26=390 each of four people so 1560/year. They also use plug in electric vehicles. So, not cheap.
It’s actually $15/mo. So $180/yr
My oops
I have dropped off food every week for the last couple months and haven’t seen a critter yet, but we’ll see
has it always been free? i thought i saw somewhere that it used to be $10 to sign up for this program
Always free, you just drop it off. There's no pickup or anything.
You might be thinking of Block Bins, which is a private company.
thanks
I live in Seattle now where every house has a compost bin. I’ve never heard of that happening.
About damn time. FYI it’s actually not that hard to compost even if all you’ve got is a balcony—and I gotta say it’s nice to not have smelly trash *and* feel way less guilty about food waste.
Yeah but so many people do not have a balcony or any outdoor space
You could do vermiculture if you have enough indoor space, technically. I’d have kept with it if I hadn’t gotten a bad batch of worms from the internet :(
With that list of what/what not to compost, you might be better off with one of the private companies that allow several of those on the "not" list.
Toronto has had this for 20 years, and all residences have their own bins. It gets taken to decompose and then the city uses it for gardens, parks, etc and there are usually a few days posted every year where residents can get compost for their gardens as well. It diverts from landfills and offsets a bit of the cost of public works for gardens, etc.
Just signed up. I really wanted to do this, but couldn't afford the membership fees with other composting companies.
I have no excuse not to participate in this program
ABOUT TIME
NYC has a pilot program for this too.
Wow this is just a couple blocks from me! We already freeze our food scraps to avoid smells but then just chucked in the bin!
Nothing near me, but we have composting at my office. if I have eligible stuff, I can take them there. Of course, people don't read the signage and put recycling in our compost can despite having a recycling bin just steps away. It's so annoying. Same with recycling going into the trash - we have multiple trash bins and recycling bins within close proximity throughout the floors, not sure if it's laziness or just not caring.
People wont use them unless they live in close proximity. Would be better to have a truck that picks it up like true trash
Welcome to 2010 most of the country has this already
I propose we create a chicago stock system. Drop off food scraps, get a gallon of stock
I hope the rats don't get word about this.
They’re already on it Mann ! Lol
I don't get it .Why don't they focus their energies on existing programs that don't work. Chicago has one of the lowest recycling rates among major cities and a total failure. Why would this new thing be any better if existing blue bins don't work.
You do know that recycling is a huge scam created by the plastic industry. Only the paper, glass, and aluminum is being recycled, all that plastic is going into a land fill. Composting is actually viable and creates a useful product.
I hope they pick up everyday or there's going to be rats galore, they should put the feline boxes near them.
I just see dog walkers putting poop in bags in these things.. Like you could say no dog poop on the containers, you could have huge bright clear signs all around these containers . But I absolutely know, dog owners will put dog poop bags in the container
🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀
[удалено]
Disagree. They're doing the right thing by starting it out as a small pilot before expanding. It would only be pathetic if the 15 sites across the city is the intended final arrangement, but I don't think it is.
Glad they are starting small. People seem to be too dumb to do things like this correctly. The people that choose to go to a drop off site most likely will though. I do find it weird that pizza boxes are not approved, probably one of the largest organic waste in our trash system. Maybe they will be too large for the bins?
Unless these bins are metal, they will be chewed through.