SOURCE SEPRATED MSW COMPOSTING IN THE U.S.

This article reports that many municipal solid waste composting projects are being launched in the U.S. The projects are based on residential separation of the compostable stream from recyclables and trash. One prevailing trend is to add source separated residential organics to existing yard trimmings collection programs. Alameda County, across the bay from San Francisco, California, has started a residential source separation program over the past few years. Recycling and composting programs in the county are supervised by Stop- waste.org. About $2.3 million have been spent on the purchase and distribution of kitchen containers for food scraps and public education. Three composting facilities in this region receive the household organics. These include the BFI Recyclery on Newby Island in San Jose, California, Grover Landscape Services, and Z-Best Composting. The cities of Oakland and Fremont in California are the two largest jurisdictions offering the program. Residents are asked to wrap food scraps in newspaper or place them in a paper bag.