How many bags of trash do you dispose of each week? What if I told you your trash can be used for something better?
The city’s Environmental Concerns Committee is always looking for initiatives to make Kalamazoo greener and more sustainable, and at the latest meeting, they discussed the possibility of a community composting program.
Hailey Iglewski from Michigan Consulting & Environmental introduced a composting program currently underway in Canton Township, which has proven to be successful in reducing landfill waste and creating a valuable resource for residents. The program allows residents to collect food scraps in designated 2-gallon buckets and drop them off at convenient locations throughout the community. The collected food scraps are then transported to a composting facility where they are transformed into nutrient-rich compost, made available to residents at no cost!
This program offers many benefits for the community and its residents. By diverting food waste from landfills, the program helps to extend the lifespan of landfills and reduce harmful methane emissions. The finished compost acts as a natural fertilizer, improving soil quality and boosting plant growth in gardens and landscaping projects. Inspired by Canton Township’s success, the city of Kalamazoo could reap similar benefits by implementing its own community composting program.
Composting offers a cost-effective way to manage waste disposal while creating a valuable resource for the community. Residents who garden or maintain lawns would likely be particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity to obtain free compost, a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. I believe that implementing a similar program in Kalamazoo would be a great opportunity to reduce waste and help the environment, plus, residents would have free access to rich and natural compost.
What do you think? Connect with Public Media Network and share your ideas and thoughts with the larger community on how to take steps to improve the environment.
Watch highlights of the meeting here to learn more! 🌱
Watch gavel to gavel coverage of the Environmental Concerns Committee meeting to see the full presentation and learn more.
