OK, this is way cool. I heard about it at the recent Green Town conference: New legislation has been passed to allow commercial food scrap composting in Illinois. And that will do, on a large commercial scale, what all us good gardeners have been doing for years -- return the nutrients from our kitchens to feed the microorganisms in our soil and ultimately feed plants. A major part of the garbage from our kitchens and restaurants could, ultimately, be diverted from landfills and put to good use.
They already are doing this in San Francisco, although they only started collecting a couple of months ago, so the first batch of compost probably isn't cooked yet. And it will take some logistical work to get this going in Illinois. But the Illinois Recycling Association is co-sponsoring a seminar on the subject Nov. 19 in Glen Ellyn. Check it out! Maybe a food waste composting effort could get going in your town.
Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe .
All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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2 comments:
Hi Beth,
So nice to meet a garden friend in Chicago! I have been a plant freak all of my life, along with being a career Property/Facility Manager. I say I never met a plant I did not like or try to save! Anyway, we definitely need to keep in touch. I wanted your opinion on the term or product - bokashicycle? The inventor contacted me to gain exposure to the rooftop garden group as his invention turns food/wet waste into compost. I am http://www.rooftopgarden.com and he thinks his product is a good fit for rooftop gardeners. Wondered if you heard of this technique/invention. Please send any rooftop garden folks my way to list their gardens on our Rooftop Garden World Database too. I really want Chicago to have every single roof possible on there to show how effective Mayor Daley's efforts have been. Glad to meet you and I am going to start a section called Garden Blogs and I promise to add you to it! Thanks so much. You have a very nice blog.
Thanks,
Linda Day Harrison
LDay@rooftopgarden.com
P.S. my LinkedIn group is Rooftop Gardening - http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=143300
Hi Beth,
This is really good news. Thanks for passing it on. Hadn't heard about it through in other outlets.
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