Going Green - Do you know what the 4th “R” of recycling means?

It’s time to expand our thinking and add another layer to our recycling strategy. How many of you know the 4 R’s of Recycling? What is the missing “R”? Well if you’ve been watching my events post you could probably make an educated guess. The fourth “R” is “Rot” I have listed all the composting events going on in Contra Costa County for 2010 in my events section. I highly recommend that if you don’t know a lot about composting that you attend a class. Last year I made an attempt to compost and I made a nice garbage can full of stinky sludge. The good news is after attending the class I learned about the scientific part of composting and I started over and now my composting pile is starting to do it’s job. It’s amazing what a little air will do to help in composting.

Another surprising benefit to composting is that my trash can is not full every week. Little did I know that this one small change would reduce my trash so much. I am so much more aware of what I’ve throwing away.

Did you know that composting has a significant impact of reducing the carbon dioxide released into the environment?
Composting helps the climate! The US EPA estimates that simply increasing our national recycling rate from its current level of 30 percent to 35 percent would reduce GHG emissions by 10 million metric tons of so-called carbon equivalent (MTCE). That amount is equal to the average annual emissions from the electricity consumed by roughly 4.6 million households. (2.)

There is a great article on the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority website pertaining to the impact of the 4r’s on our climate. Did you know the EPA ranks landfills the second largest source of human released methane gas?

I challenge you to think about making one small change and consider composting. Worm composting is a small way to start and it’s something you can do in a small tub that doesn’t use very much space.

Here is a link to a quick guide to worm composting at www.savvygardener.com.