by Mary Morgan & Mark Haubner

The word is getting out: diverting food waste from landfills to composting is a huge climate solution – good for family budgets, city coffers, and great for our soils.

Pictured above, left to right: Nancy DePas Reinertsen, Mark Haubner, Mary Morgan, Anne Smith and Michelle Hart at the launch of the ReWild pilot composting program at Deep Roots Farm in Southold. |. Photo by Aurélie Lang

How can we help our neighbors recycle their organic waste into compost?

That was the question the three of us on the North Fork asked after learning that “food prep” was an effective way to reduce both pollution and the town’s costs. The three of us agreed that we should start a pilot project. We should conduct a small, short-term experiment that would allow us to learn how a large-scale project might work in practice. So we got together, drafted a plan, and met with Southold Town to get it approved. We sent out requests to friends and neighbors – people we knew who brought their own yellow bags to the transfer station – and we signed up 30 families for our 30-day pilot project. Who were we? Two writers of this column, Mark Haubner and Mary Morgan, and our brilliant marketing colleague Sherry Thirlby.

What we tested

Our test was to see if people would be willing to change their habits. From throwing leftover food into a yellow bag to putting it in a covered bucket and giving it away instead. Our thirty families were great – they followed all the rules, dutifully took their buckets to the designated place and told us they “loved it”. And this in January!

What motivated us?

Project Drawdown’s science-based ranking of 100 solutions to reverse global warming was an eye-opener. Repurposing food waste for composting is one of the best solutions, if not the best, the average person can take. Here’s why: food waste is the largest (and most expensive) category in our waste stream (30%), the largest contributor comes from households (that’s us! – 70%), and the carbon footprint of food is larger than that of the airline industry (three times as much, that’s a lot! (Washington Post)).

Copying is the best form of flattery

Most gratifying for the three of us, our pilot project has inspired more pilot projects! We began convening a “mini-summit” every January on Shelter Island with representatives from the five East End towns to share best practices. In response, East Hampton launched its own version of a food waste drop-off site, and Riverhead immediately followed suit with our pilot project and added a pickup option. Thanks to the good work of Riverhead’s engineering department, a second drop-off site was just announced at the George Young Community Center in South Jamesport, in addition to the original location in the yard waste area of ​​the Youngs Avenue Landfill in Calverton. (To participate in Riverhead’s pilot projects, register on the town’s website. If you have any questions, contact: [email protected])

Other drop-off points

The new North Fork branch of ReWild Long Island has picked up the ball. They have organized pilot projects to donate food scraps to compost at two local farms: Deep Roots, Southold, and Golden Acres, Jamesport. (To join Deep Roots, email [email protected]. To join Golden Acres, email Kelly: [email protected] ) And for anyone looking to purchase a recycling device for their kitchen, Rewild Long Island offers a discounted FoodCycler device that turns food scraps into a dry soil amendment by 90%. (For more information, visit: ReWildLongIsland.org.) The goal of ReWild, like the other experimental attempts to collect data for our cities and test the feasibility of offering people many ways to turn food scraps from the waste stream into compost. Are people interested (yes!), do they follow the rules (yes!), do they want more drop-off points (yes!).

Our findings

If the pilot doesn’t work, the plane won’t fly. With our first pilot in 2019, we knew there would be flaws in the design (a little joke about leftover food here). The great thing about very local programs is that both positive and negative feedback comes immediately – the gamma lid seals are falling off, we need to offer buckets at a lower price, communication with participants is crucial, etc. All of this information helped us launch our second pilot in Riverhead.

Collaboration is crucial

The knowledge sharing at our two Food in Compost Summits on Shelter Island broadened our reach and started a cross-pollination of ideas. We reached out to the North Fork Environmental Council, the Long Island Organics Council, 12 civic groups, local municipalities, small local businesses, farmers, and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

By sharing information and experiences, nothing is lost – our knowledge never diminishes, it only grows with each new partner. Together, we reached out to the Pollution Prevention Institute and secured a grant for Riverhead. Now we are in the process of securing a second grant for Southold – to fund the pilot project for the centralized food waste composting drop-off point at the transfer station. That would be three drop-off points in Riverhead and two in Southold. Stay tuned!

Former local lover, climate scientist, sailor and beachcomber Mary Morgan lives in Orient with her husband Tom, a naturalist and mushroom picker, and co-founded the local branch of Slow Food East End in 2004. Mary co-founded a grassroots initiative in the East End, inspired by Project Drawdown, dedicated to local solutions to reverse global warming.

Mark Haubner has been recycling newspapers since 1965, and not believing his example would be followed by everyone in the world, he began studying science communication seriously about six years ago. He received a certificate in sustainability and behavior change from the University of California, San Diego, and now writes community-based social marketing programs for nonprofits.

Climate Local Now is a partnership between the East End Beacon and two leaders of a grassroots group inspired by the science of Project Drawdown to advance local climate solutions.

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