I like compost. I bought enough of it this year to prove it! I make compost too, I put all my non-meat scraps in a bucket by the sink and then dump that into a little earth machine out back
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what does a composter such as yourself do with meat scraps and whatnot? do you just throw them out or can they be composted separately? that's one thing I don't understand.
Well, if in addition to my trash fees, I pay $8 per month for "food plus," I can put meat scraps in the "food plus" bin, which gets turned into the compost I buy at Home Despot or suchlike. I *could* conceivably compost meat scraps at home, but decomposing meat attracts rats and other ickies.
Once I got so obsessed with the TEOTWAWKI that I looked into human composting (which wicker basket "green burials" are the latest and greatest for the pinnacle of "social responsibility," by the way) but instead read about cow composting. It is a common practice to compost an entire beef, apparently - also slaugherhouse entrails, as I read in The Omnivore's Dilemma.
ah, I see. I read the Omnivore's Dilemma awhile ago and don't remember that part.
I don't think we have a similar food plus program here, but it's interesting to hear that such programs exist. I want to compost and garden, but I get anxiety about focusing my attention on such a project when I'm still in this phase of life (work and school and one income) (I'm a tad insane).
So ... this is the only thing I can conceive of the Carrot dude movement would ask me to do, since I already recycle my recyclables. But to what end - to enrich an emerging industry? How's that "socially responsible?"
To be fair, it would be interesting to see what the composting firm's balance sheets look like, specifically how the fees line up with their costs... between transportation (which is likely a more sensitive process, given the nature of the waste), processing (I'm guessing you can't ust toss the stuff in a pile in your back yard when you're composting at a commercial scale), repackaging and distribution, they might not actually be pulling down huge profits, even charging at both ends of the process. I'm not saying this is necessarily the case, as I honestly don't know anything about the industry.
Just a bit of devil's advocate.
As an aside, those carrot guys sound absolutely ridiculous.
Well, the trash company is picking it up and selling it to the composter. I can see how it would add expense to collect it in a separate truck. But does it cost 21 times more than to pick up recycling?
Actually I wonder about the processing too. How much fossil fuel is used in the collecting, distribution, and shredding of the material? And how does that fossil fuel use compare with landfills and the reduction of greenhouse gases by diverting organics to compost? Does it make good sense or false economics? I just wonder!
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Once I got so obsessed with the TEOTWAWKI that I looked into human composting (which wicker basket "green burials" are the latest and greatest for the pinnacle of "social responsibility," by the way) but instead read about cow composting. It is a common practice to compost an entire beef, apparently - also slaugherhouse entrails, as I read in The Omnivore's Dilemma.
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I don't think we have a similar food plus program here, but it's interesting to hear that such programs exist. I want to compost and garden, but I get anxiety about focusing my attention on such a project when I'm still in this phase of life (work and school and one income) (I'm a tad insane).
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I think it's pretty clearly with the composting company ;)
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So ... this is the only thing I can conceive of the Carrot dude movement would ask me to do, since I already recycle my recyclables. But to what end - to enrich an emerging industry? How's that "socially responsible?"
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Just a bit of devil's advocate.
As an aside, those carrot guys sound absolutely ridiculous.
Reply
Actually I wonder about the processing too. How much fossil fuel is used in the collecting, distribution, and shredding of the material? And how does that fossil fuel use compare with landfills and the reduction of greenhouse gases by diverting organics to compost? Does it make good sense or false economics? I just wonder!
Reply
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