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| This forum is tiring me out today.
Have you ever read someone's post, wondered about some of it or a definition you didn't know, etc..? You do a google search, maybe read a few things, end up checking Wikipedia, then you search the Chapters website for a book, and then you have to look up the movie on Rotten Tomatoes. You end up looking up so many things that sometimes you can't remember what started it! Meanwhile, your computer is probably going into overdrive. I'm exhausted! I think what started it was the post on the homework project. BTW Lloyd, if you read this, you asked about kitchen scraps. 2-3 people in our household generate approximately 2 full 4 litre ice cream buckets per week if I bother to collect it in the winter, (that's if I haven't made homemade soup that week) and anywhere between 2-3 of the buckets per week in the summer. Sometimes more. This equation doesn't include composting lettuce - you know - the lettuce you buy and put off washing until it's not fresh anymore, and then you just compost it instead =:) |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Okay, thanks. Any idea how much that would weigh? I'm trying to set up a kitchen scrap drop-off pilot project for this spring and I'm trying to guess how much an average family might dispose of through their kitchens. I guess it really depends on how much moisture they throw out but even a WAG is helpful. With just DW and myself we don't generate a lot and most of that is UCGs, peelings and inedible fruit. We only put out about 3 pounds a week but that can vary depending on what shift I'm working. I love to work the midnight shift as it's pretty quiet most of the time and I can do composting research then. :-) Lloyd |
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- Posted by nutsaboutflowers (My Page) on Thu, Dec 9, 10 at 23:57
| Lloyd - what's WAG ? Our kitchen compost is made up of UCG but not the filters, vegetable peelings and end pieces, banana and orange peels, other misc. fruit skins and cores, garlic and onion bits and skins, and that's about it as far as I can remember. Are there other things you'd accept or expect to see when you do your scrap drop off? If you like, I'll find an empty ice cream pail and let you know how much it weighs when it's full. |
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| nutsaboutflowers Lloyd's asking you to take a "Wild _ssed Guess" concerning the weight of the kitchen scraps. |
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| How much the kitchen scraps wife accumulates for me to take out to the compost pile about every 3 days depends on what goes in it, but it is about 2 pounds of scraps from 2 people. Many people may procuce more, some may produce somewhat less, but others I correspond with tell me that is about normal. |
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| Sorry...WAG = Wild A$$ Guess. The weight of a pail would be helpful along with the time it takes to fill. I'd eventually like to get a 'pounds per person per week' figure. Our provincial government set up a new "levy" of $10 per metric tonne of material going into a landfill. 80% of that gets rebated to local governments based on how much material gets diverted (recycling, composting, wood chipping) from entering the landfill. So what I'm trying to do is get numbers to show if some kind of kitchen waste diversion would be worthwhile. Sorry for hi-jacking your thread (again), I shoulda just started my own. :-( Lloyd |
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| LOL NAF, I do the same thing and sometimes have so many windows open that my 'puter rebels! At least I think that's why Safari occasionally quits on me. The web is a great source for info junkies like me (and obviously you also). Lloyd, in case I don't find where you originally asked the question about how much compost is generated I'll give a rough guess-timate here and will start to occasionally weigh ours and let you know. I know I can say we have at least 1/2 gal each day normally for 2 people but it does vary depending on the menu and how much we eat out. More when I do things like peel a couple pounds of ginger to make candied ginger like I did recently or make a fruit salad with lots of citrus. |
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- Posted by beeman_gardener (My Page) on Fri, Dec 10, 10 at 17:05
| "Lloyd" If it's any help. Our city started a kitchen waste collection some time ago. They're always shouting about how much they divert from the landfill. Perhaps you could contact someone in the municipality office, I'm sure they could supply some statistics. Thy don't seem to have much to do!!! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Public Works
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| Hi Lloyd - my city now does a weekly food waste recycling collection and they have provided each household with a 23 litre (just over 6 US gallons) plastic bin with lockable lid for collecting the waste. So presumably that's what they decided was the appropriate size for an 'average' household. We were also given a smaller 5 litre (1.3 US gallons) caddy for collecting the stuff in the kitchen before it goes into the larger bin. We also got corn starch liners so the bins don't get smelly. Hope this helps. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Food waste recycling
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| Wow, thanks all. Flora, your city sounds like a great program. I went to the composting company's site as well, very impressive. I did note that your city says that the average person throws away 2.9 kilos per week. I wonder if that is per person or per household? I'm guessing per person based on the materials that are accepted under the program. The more materials accepted usually leads to higher numbers. Interesting nonetheless. Any pilot program I come up with, only involves a community of just under 5,000 and be entirely voluntary. The town won't spend any money nor beat people up with by-laws to achieve compliance. Ergo, anything I do has to be cheap and easy. Even then I don't expect more than 25% participation. I sort of have a plan but it will involve some other agencies (mainly for permissions). The good thing is that I can do it with almost zero extra cost other than time. But I have to start somewhere and knowing the numbers involved is one of the big items. Thx again Lloyd |
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| I also just noticed that Flora's community's landfill charges are going to be about $89 (canadian) per metric tonne. Our community only pays $43 per metric tonne and that includes the $10 per tonne tax by the government. A big part of our problem here in Manitoba is the cheap landfill charges. Not a lot of financial incentive to divert the organics. Some days it's an uphill battle. Lloyd |
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| Hi again, Lloyd. Glad it was of interest. Regarding the Landfill charges here. That figure is entirely government charges. My community (i.e. county) doesn't actually have any landfill space of its own. We have to send it elsewhere. We Brits live on a tiny crowded island and we are almost out of holes in the ground. I can see how the problem might appear less pressing to your fellow Manitobans. Keep fighting the good fight! |
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