The Compost King of New York: What happens to food scraps after the city takes them?
When the Department of Sanitation’s curbside organics-collection program expanded to my Brooklyn neighborhood in 2015, I was grateful, but also a little wary. Placing my scraps on the curb in a securely latched, hard-sided bin was certainly convenient, but my compost cycle was starting to spiral, from small-batch to medium to — well, I wasn’t sure what. I had no idea where this centralized system deposited my scraps, or how — or if — they were transformed into something of value.
By 2018, the Department of Sanitation hopes to extend its curbside program — the largest residential-food-waste collection scheme in the country — citywide. But quantity doesn’t always equal quality, and already there is evidence that an industrial future may not match the integrity of the artisanal present.
Longer supply chains mean burning more fuel to transport this resource, and recipients of scraps have little control over what New Yorkers throw into their bins. Because local composters, at urban farms, educate their suppliers, they don’t need to remove plastic bags, twist-ties and other detritus from their feedstock. But the anonymity of industrial-scale operations means that such contaminants can easily slide through.
(via The Compost King of New York - The New York Times)
Compare to the local neighbourhood schemes: AUSTIN’S BIKE-POWERED COMPOST COMPANY - https://compostpedallers.com/ .
As with consumption, and where stuff comes from. ‘Where waste goes’ is also a choice the local municipality has to make - it’s our garbage.
TTM #7 :: Sophie Thomas :: Waste is a design flaw
Sophie has been working in sustainable design and material process for over 15 years, which has fuelled her curiosity about why things are the way they are. She knows that good design thinking is key for improvement. She directs the Great Recovery project.
Blog :: greatrecovery.org.uk/
Twitter :: @tmsophieTTM #7
#stacktivism unconference
Saturday 13 July 2013
Lime Wharf
#bigpicturedays #bpd1 #bigpixThe Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series
Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu
19th February 2017
Reblogged From thejaymo
Notes: 6
If you consider yourself a follower of the solarpunk movement, or even just have a casual interest in the subgenre, please reblog this post! I’m trying to gauge the size of the current solarpunk ‘fandom’ on tumblr. If there’s sufficient interest, I might even look into creating a network or group of some kind so that like-minded solarphiles can share ideas, headcanons and projects. Oh, and I’ll be following back predominately solarpunk blogs, so there’s something tangible in it for you too. Thanks in advance!
It’s getting to the interesting point where it’s big enough for factionalism. You’re getting arguments over food systems, accessibility, political systems, and how light/dark it “ought” to be, though the decentralized big-tent ethos of it seems to keep most folks from saying “You’re not solarpunk if you think X.” It seems like it’s spurring a decent amount of learning about sustainability, intentional communities, and infrastructure, which seems like a rather positive development.
For the record, one of the purposes of this blog in particular is connecting people to sources of theory and real-life examples they might not otherwise have encountered. (One of the primary authors is the guy who wrote the hieroglyph post.) We’re big on infrastructural awareness and giving interested humans a firm grounding to go along with all the lovely images.
Interesting things happening over here // JAY
Before the program, about 90 percent of nomads relied on candles, coal, and yak dung to light and heat their homes, shelling out more than the cost of a solar panel in the space of a few years for smoky and inefficient power. Just over half managed to power a phone or radio with a diesel generator or motorcycle battery, draining more of their meager budgets. In cutting down on energy costs and increasing availability, the solar panel program freed up cash, creating a brand new industry of small appliance providers in the countryside. The industry is so robust that now 70 percent of nomads have a color TV and satellite dish and 90 percent are hooked into a mobile phone network.
[…]
Many nomads believe that the power of mines, 90 percent of the national economy today, allows mineral extractors and developers to flout laws protecting the forests, water reservoirs, and grazing grounds vital to nomads from degradation.
The sense of encroachment made national heroes out of four nomads who, in 2010, opened fire with their old hunting rifles on an empty mining camp and, the next year, organized a 100-man horseback demonstration in Ulaanbaatar, firing arrows at the Government House. In 2013 President Tsakhia Elbegdorj won his second term on a platform of tighter foreign mining controls. And even with these boosts to the rural economy, more than 800,000 Mongols, many of them nomads, still live below the national poverty line.
Their way of life is under threat, and they have not achieved parity with their urban kin. Some contend that these forces are breeding a nascent anti-mining, pro-traditionalist eco-terror movement. Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, one of those who fired on the mines, and his Gal Undesten movement now stand accused of planting bombs outside government buildings in 2013. “We are a small group of simple herders fighting powerful people,” Munkhbayar told a New Zealand journalist in 2011. “It’s not an easy fight but we cannot stand by idly and watch our land and way of life come to an end.”
But Gaaj is a savvy and entrepreneurial man. He has the tools to utilize his wits and to sustain his family without just scraping by now. The flimsy tinfoil-looking contraption outside his ger is enough of a lifeline to stand on and fight from, and that’s worth something out in the brutal emptiness of the steppe.
Here we go // JAY