Mankato resident Barb Lamson and her husband use rain barrels to fill their pond and water all of their plants throughout their entire yard.
Mulch ado about nothing By Grace Brandt | Photos by Marianne Carlson
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s people strive to live more eco-friendly lives, almost everyone knows about the need to “reduce, reuse and recycle.” But there’s another important part to that process that many people don’t understand nearly as well: composting. Much like recycling, composting takes waste and creates something new and useful. It’s also surprisingly easy to do, with different levels of participation available for different household needs.
A three-city-wide effort Food waste accounts for almost 22 percent of all waste that goes into municipal landfills, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—more than any other single material in everyday trash. While you might think that food waste isn’t as harmful as the non-biodegradable waste that fills up area landfills, in reality, this waste still creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Because of this, many cities encourage 26 •
• MAY 2020 • The Free Prese
residents to participate in composting, also known as organics recycling. Residents of Mankato and North Mankato have the opportunity to participate in city-run composting thanks to a partnership between the two cities and Mankato Area Zero Waste, a grassroots nonprofit organization focused on reducing waste in all forms. “We’re working towards reducing waste in any form, but we first got engaged when we saw that food was one of the biggest contributors to landfills,” explained Betty Winkworth, co-chair of the group. “[Composting] was an area that had been developed more in Europe and other areas of US, [while] recycling had just leveled off at that point. This was an area that was ripe for working on.” Winkworth said that Mankato Area Zero Waste started with a pilot program in 2016, starting with 25 families who paid $25 each to have their food scraps composted. The collection times
