For those who have municipal composting/green bin services, how does that work (i.e., what's included? is it mandatory? included in any normal solid waste fees or extra? how frequent? and, you know, stuff)? Here, we have curbside yard waste pickup (which the city turns into compost and/or mulch) in addition to the garbage and recycling bins, but food waste composting is left up to you.

(Y'all, this whole conversation is SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING than the work I'm not doing right now.)

The city will only pick up recycling or trash for buildings with 4 units or less. Anything larger has to take care of it on their own.

Tommy, [link]

Cool. I'll ask my building maintenance guy about it.

In Seattle it's mandatory for homes and condos, I think...recycling for apartments, but I don't think they enforce composting for apartments--I know that I didn't, in my apartment, and there weren't any bins for it. They pick it up once a week with the trash (they pick up recycling every other week, but the bin is HUGE). They charge you different amounts based on how big your garbage can is, so it's in your best interest to recycle and compost as much as you can.

Link to what can be composted: [link]

They charge you different amounts based on how big your garbage can is, so it's in your best interest to recycle and compost as much as you can.

Smart. Money always talks. San Bruno did the same years ago and it really helps.

It was news last year that SF was going to start fining people for putting coffee grounds in the trash.

I would have to pay extra for single-stream recycling with the county, which pisses me off because a properly run recycling program that encourages people to recycle can more than pay for itself. I therefore collect all the recyclables and take them to the giant recycling facility at the DeKalb Farmers Market when I go.

I spend parties pointedly moving recyclables from the trash and trash from the recyclables. This is one reason I'd just as soon people didn't "help."

NYC is harsh about separating recycling because it's an easy way for the city to make money. For residences the fines for accidentally tossing a yogurt container into the plastic recycling can go up into the thousands if you have multiple violations. [For businesses the city sorts everything for them. Even if there are recycling bins in your office, everything goes into the same dump truck when it leaves the building.]

(The board of my coop had to pass a bylaw last year stating that recycling violations fines would be passed on to the shareholders as an assessment because people just were not paying attention to their trash. Once we told people they'd have to pay the next one, it got a lot better.)

In SF we have bins for waste, recycling and compost.

It's not mandatory but they get really pissy if you put plastic bags in your recycling (which gums up the sorting machines apparently).

We sort out recycling but not compost. I have become more conscious about reuse over the last couple years. My personal epiphany being the giant plastic bag whirlpool in the Pacific.

For those who have municipal composting/green bin services, how does that work (i.e., what's included? is it mandatory? included in any normal solid waste fees or extra? how frequent? and, you know, stuff)? Here, we have curbside yard waste pickup (which the city turns into compost and/or mulch), but food waste composting is left up to you.

We have compost bins that are picked up curbside alternating weeks with garbage. (Once a week in the summer, thanks to rats.) The program accepts food waste, garden and yard clippings, boxboard and other non-plastic wrappings. Corrugated carboard, paper, bottles, cans are recycled in a different stream) It's supposed to be mandatory...there are allegedly fines for putting compostables/recyclables in the trash, but I don't think it's strictly enforced. Sometimes you see garbage/recycling bags that are rejected because they contain the wrong things. [link]

When we started, our city were leaders in North America in waste diversion, but the city has gotten complacent about recycling/composting and new things haven't been included in the stream (plastic yogurt tubs can't be recycled here) and I don't think compliance is all that high. I don't think I've ever seen my neighbors putting out their green (compost) bin.

The city does encourage things like grasscycling, they had a program this spring where you could buy backyard compost bins similar to the one Jessica linked to for about $30.