This post originally appeared in the Jan. 13 Morning Report.
San Diegans in the Barrio Logan and Logan Heights neighborhoods received new green bins the city began rolling out Wednesday, our MacKenzie Elmer reported. These bins are for residents to recycle food waste. But, some of our readers had questions about how to use them.
Here are some answers to their questions, edited for clarity.
Q. How big are the kitchen pails? (These are pails provided by the city along with the regular, larger rolling bin.)
A. The city-provided kitchen pails are 11.5 inches long and 9.25 inches high.
Q. Can we throw cooking grease in these food waste bins?
A. No fats, oils or grease should go into the bin.
Q. A user on Twitter asked, we already use green bins for plant based garbage and food from the gardeners and such. It gets picked up every two weeks. Is this the same thing, just giving us trash cans vs using our own and kicking it up every week?
A. If residents already have a green bin that they’re using for yard and other green waste, continue to do so until the city has brought you a new bin for food waste. The city’s website indicates a kitchen pail will be delivered to you with information on when you can start adding food scraps to that same green bin. But yes, food and yard waste bin collection will eventually be every week for your residence.
Q. Hugo Lillo on Facebook asked when restaurants will be required to roll out food waste recycling.
A. Restaurants with 250 seats or more or with a footprint of 5,000 square feet or more will have to begin recovering food that is otherwise edible beginning Jan. 1, 2024, according to the city’s website.
The city also has a list of frequently asked questions and answers on its website.
Keep up with Elmer’s reporting on the city’s new green bins, and other news, with her biweekly newsletter, The Environment Report. Subscribe here.
This will be interesting, considering that people abuse the blue bins by putting all sorts of non-recylcleable material in them. So food waste that is in a bin with a broken lid (very common due to rough handling by “robot arm” trucks) will no doubt bring flies and other pests. Currently, for most of the accepted blue bin trash (save bottles, cans, and maybe cardboard), there is no demand and they don’t get recycled, but you can “feel good” about it.
Well, call it a wrap. Planet saved. Whew , that was close.
What are those garbage pails made out of by the way?
your intro “food farts, or the gas that’s generated by bacteria that decomposes food waste, is not good for the environment.” is misleading. Allow me to mansplain:
Bacteria that decompose organic material in anaerobic environments, eg a backyard compost pile, generate CO2, (all decomposing organic matter does.)
In an ANaerobic environment, ie a landfill, different decomposer bacteria (that don’t breath O2) generate methane aka CH4 aka natural gas, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. So keeping all organic matter out of landfills is a priority.
The new personal food waste buckets are very poorly designed. Both the lids and handles easily fall off, especially when you are trying to empty one into the larger bin. I saw a lid at the bottom of our large green collection bin when I was emptying my own bucket. I had to dig my own lid out last week when it fell in but someone else in my building clearly decided they were not going to dive 4 feet to the bottom of the bin. The buckets are also not fly proof and are filled with flys in just a few days. Our solution is to simply use a recycled plastic 2-3 quart container with a sealable lid. It lives on the counter and doesn’t encourage flies.