BY JODY BENSON
Los Alamos
At Tuesday night’s Los Alamos County Council Meeting, the County will decide whether to approve what has been a years-long study to establish community food-waste composting. Here’s what could happen:
Rather than tossing scraps and uneaten food into the dumpster to rot into methane to contribute to yet more never-ending holocaust fires incinerating our entire state, all that luscious, organic material could break down into rich and useful compost to augment our soils and create a habitat for all sorts of microorganisms and vegetables and flowers and shrubs and trees. Free. Rich, delicious, worm-romancing soil.
Think of how much better it would be if your Middle School son’s half-eaten sandwich went into the big compost bin at the LAMS cafeteria; if each restaurant could just step to the back door to scrape into the bin a plate of leftovers that someone neglected to package up and take home; if Aspen Ridge and Sombrillo didn’t rely on the bears in the dumpsters to clean up their way-too-much uneaten food; if Smiths that discards enough “old and ugly” vegetables and out-of-date protein every day to feed a North Korean village for week, had its own dumpster specifically for organics—think of how much better it would be to have all this city-wide waste become opulent, sumptuous soil.
We waste so much food. We dump so much food. So much of what should be nourishment becomes landfill that devolves into methane, an uber-potent greenhouse gas. If we’re not going to eat it, let’s compost it. Let’s give it back to the soil.
The Council will be voting on this question of community compost at the regularly scheduled Council Meeting tonight, April 17. Please tell the Council that we’re ready to:
- Decrease greenhouse gas emissions
- Reduce waste making us less dependent on landfills
- Strengthen soil and promote healthy plant growth
- Reduces the need for pesticides and synthetic fertilizers—especially now that we plan to be a glyphosate-free Bee City
- Recycle essential nutrients back into the soil
- Promote a prolific soil ecosystem.
Thank you! We’re Science City. Let’s use the science to choose to support a living planet.
Please email your support to CountyCouncil@lacnm.us .
The meeting begins at 6:00 PM. Agenda Packet and meeting information:
A more detailed article from NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-101