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Why No Compostables?
We get this question a lot - can we put compostables in the green cart? Can we bag our food scraps to toss at home? The answer is no, and the reason is layered.
We know you want to do the right thing, and compostables are a step in the right direction. However, on the operational side of handling all the organic materials that come into the compost facility, it can create more work and increases the costs and environmental harm to the community. Let's take a compostable fork, for example:
- A compostable fork and a plastic fork can look extremely similar when handling and sorting out trash from literal tons of organic material.
- Compostable forks don't always breakdown in a commercial composting setting quick enough, thus they get screened out and sent to the landfill, which is costly.
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Compostable food service ware is known to contain "forever chemicals" like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which break down slowly in the environment.
For these reasons, we cannot accept these materials if we want to produce quality compost for the community. If you're searching for alternatives to disposable plastic and polystyrene foam, please consider durables/reusables.
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