Portland Composts!

Starting October 31, 2011, residents of Portland, Oregon will experience a change in their trash and recycling services. After a test conducted in a few neighborhoods, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is rolling out the new plan to all Portland residents. This plan involves increasing the frequency of pickups for green yard debris bins to once a week, in addition to allowing food composting to be included in the bins. Garbage service will decrease to every other week to reflect the anticipated reduction in garbage with this plan. Residents will also receive free kitchen composting pails for collecting food scraps to go in the green composting bins. During the pilot program, residents ended up generating 30 percent less garbage each month, so there are strong results behind this plan.

If you live outside of the Portland area, you should contact your local municipal agency in charge of waste removal and recycling services and encourage them to adopt a similar program. Find out what recycling and composting services may already be available. If you own your own home, consider composting in your own backyard!

For more information on the Portland Composts! program, visit this website.

To start your own composting at home, visit HowToCompost.org for helpful guides on getting started.

http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=47246

http://wweek.com/portland/blog-27693-curbside_composting_.html