A NATURAL COMPOSITION Composting allows food waste to naturally decompose into rich soil. “Once you start composting, you hate to do anything else with that garbage,” said Margie Shepard, Sustainable Saratoga’s Zero Waste Committee Co-Chair. The Zero Waste Committee grew out of Sustainable Saratoga’s Bring Your Own Bag initiative aimed at reducing the use of plastic shopping bags. Their efforts expanded to include hosting Saratoga Recycles Day and Repair Cafes, and in the last three years, interest in their backyard composting workshops has grown exponentially. “People get really excited, even passionate when they start talking about compost,” said Shepard, who has reduced her own household garbage so much that it can take weeks for her to fill a single brown paper bag with waste.
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Some love composting because it produces matter that is beneficial in their gardens, others because their garbage isn’t as heavy, wet or smelly. How you decide to deal with food waste can also have a larger impact on climate change. It is estimated that 40 percent of food produced in the United States is wasted and that 90 percent of this food waste ends up producing methane gas in landfills. Composting is an easy, concrete, daily way to reduce the environmental damage caused by food waste. “It’s one of the most flexible things you can do – it’s hard to mess it up,” said Shepard. See Love Compost until June 2nd at Uncommon Grounds, 402 Broadway, Saratoga. A portion of the proceeds from photograph sales will go to benefit Sustainable Saratoga’s initiatives. For more information, go to Terri-lynnPellegriPhotography.com. For composting questions visit Sustainable Saratoga at SustainableSaratoga.org. SS MAY/JUNE 2019 | SIMPLY SARATOGA | 109