An Effort to Compost Within the Community: Pinecrest’s Composting Pilot Program

In an effort to create a dent in the issue of food waste, with the ideal effect benefitting Biscayne Bay and the South Florida environment, the composting project within Pinecrest is the newest environmental initiative in the community.

Initially brought forward by Councilmember Shannon del Prado and officially began in March, the project aims to influence residents to collect materials such as leftover foods, soiled paper and cardboard to contribute to the production of compost in order to curb the amount of food waste within Pinecrest and to create sustainable soil for local flora.

“Composting is something that is dear to my heart because my daughters are always talking about it and frankly I tried composting and it’s not easy…it really is kind of a science,” Pinecrest Councilmember, Shannon del Prado said. “I started asking around and I learned about a group called Fertile Earth.”

Fertile Earth, founded by Dr. Lanette Sobel in 2011, was started after a trip to Miami in 2009 in which it was found that hotels create over one ton of “organic” waste. The discovery of chemical fertilizers running off into water sources prompted Sobel to create a solution that maintains sustainability for the future. Additionally, during her time in sustainability consulting for the hospitality industry, she discovered the massive effect of food waste on the ecosystem and further planted her forethought of wishing for a better future for the environment.

“Its essentially our effort to participate in recycling and the compost of course reduces the need to use fertilizers, Fertile Earth sells composting product at the farmer’s market which you can buy, it’s very reasonable but, nonetheless you can go and leave your food scraps for free and then they come by and they pick them up during the week and they create compost, and so it’s just an effort to be good stewards of the Earth,” del Prado said.

In collaboration with Fertile Earth, The City of Pinecrest has organized a composting project in order to create a more sustainable future for Biscayne Bay and the health of wildlife within the community and beyond.

“We did not inherit the Earth from our parents, rather we are borrowing it from future generations, and just like anything we borrow, we have a duty to safeguard it. And so I kind of see it as our little starfish, one little thing our community can do collectively to lessen the burden on the bay and improve the community we live in,” del Prado said.

Employees of Fertile Earth advocate for the cause that is extremely important to them at the Pinecrest Gardens’ farmer’s market every sunday.

“It came from the earth, it should go back to the earth, not the landfills,” Fertile Earth truck driver Paul DeJesus said.

The initiative was posted on March 13 to the Village of Pinecrest website in order to inform residents about the project and has seen positive results thus far, as every Sunday for the last four weeks at the Pinecrest Farmers Market at Pinecrest Gardens, residents can contribute their collected to a communal bin. Additionally, throughout the week residents can contribute to communal bins near Whilden Hall, between Pinecrest Gardens and The Pinecrest community center.

“It’s part of our city’s tradition to find ways to be a little more green, a little less harmful to the bay, a little more kind to the planet,” Vice Mayor of Pinecrest, Anna Hochkammer said. “So over the years each one of the council members has picked up the baton in different ways and carried it different ways with different initiatives… but it’s definitely about giving people the opportunity to do the things that they know are good for the environment, rather than

JUST 27% OF PEOPLE IN THE U.S. HAVE ACCESS TO COMPOSTING PROGRAMS

just talk about it.”

According to the World Wildlife Foundation, humans “waste 40 percent of the food we produce” and consequently contributes to 10 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions on the planet, as stated in an article on the foundations website, inferring that the utilization of food waste in the United States for fertilizer alone would positively impact the wellbeing of the environment.

“I think we really desperately need to understand that the things that we are doing in our yards and in the grass medians in our parking lots, in our agricultural lands down in South Dade, have traditionally done a huge amount of damage to Biscayne Bay and to the quality of the water in the Biscayne aquifer,” Hochkammer said. “If we don’t as individuals make a commitment to do something to decrease the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that is pouring into Biscayne Bay and into the aquifer that we’re going to essentially be facing an existential threat in south florida and we’re really right there with Biscayne Bay. So composting fits into that larger conversation.”

The challenge presented remains as the rapidly increasing demand for food, according to the Harvard Business Review, the demand for food is expected to increase anywhere from 58% to 98% by the year 2050.

The passion brought forward by everyone working on the composting project is hopeful to create a snowball effect through South Florida, as residents will pick up the sustainable call to action and take the first steps into a more optimistic future for the environment.

Michael Angee Life Editor

m.angee.thepanther@gmail.com

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