you compost that? A cheat sheet on what goes in the bin

By K endra P ierre- L ouis Bloomberg

ON A MICROSCOPIC level, composting refers to a biological process where bacteria, fungi and even worms break down organic material to generate a product that looks like soil but is technically a soil amendment. This nutrient-rich blend can be used to improve soil quality, making it easier to grow everything from house plants to crops.

On a practical level, compost — a product formed in darkness — is increasingly stepping into the spotlight.

Earlier this year, New York City announced plans to expand its composting program citywide by late 2024, the latest example of a trend that in the U.S. started with San Francisco’s launch of a composting program in 1996. Other cities, including Seattle, Boston and Boulder, Colo., have also unveiled composting programs, and in 2020 Vermont went a step further, banning the disposal of food scraps in trash or landfill waste.

For municipalities, composting is often cheaper than landfilling over the long term, says Eric A. Goldstein, a lawyer who works on New

York City programs at the nonprofit NRDC. “The cost of disposal is higher at landfills and incinerators because municipalities are dropping off a product that is a waste product that has no practical use,” Goldstein says.

For individuals and locales looking to cut their emissions, composting also has the benefit of helping to address climate change.

“When food scraps and yard waste are buried in landfills, they decompose and generate methane, a very potent global warming gas,” Goldstein says.

“Landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States. So if we are going to get a handle on the climate crisis, we’ve got to find a way of keeping organics like food scraps and yard waste out of landfills.”

Actually doing that, though, can seem daunting at first — plenty of Americans are still figuring out what goes in which recycling bin. While composting guidelines vary based on where you are and what kind of bin you have access to, here are some tips for how to compost across the U.S.

How to get started with composting

There are a few different ways to compost. Your city or municipality can collect your food waste if it has a program in place. You can also drop your food waste off at specific composting collection locations, or you can compost at home.

If your community has a composting program, it usually involves getting a dedicated composting bin — they’re green in San Francisco and brown in New York City — that is picked up on a set schedule, often weekly. In addition to compost pickup, many cities also have drop-off services that allow people to leave their compost at dedicated bins on the street, or in locales like farmers markets and community gardens. If you don’t have access to community collection or drop-off locations, that doesn’t mean composting is out of reach: There are a growing number of private residential composting services. In some parts of New England, for example, Bootstrap Compost will drop off a five-gallon bucket for

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