By Rebecca Martin
The City of Kingston’s composting program “rots”!
Composting is the process of breaking down organic waste, like food scraps, to create nutrient-rich compost. This process involves rotting, or the destructive dissolution of organic matter. When we remove food waste from the waste system, with composting, we are actively diverting food scraps from our regular trash and turning them into nutrient rich soil. It is essentially taking food out of the landfill where it would otherwise decompose and produce harmful methane gas; this helps reduce environmental impact and conserve resources used to produce food.
According to the EPA, 22% of our waste stream is food scraps, meaning it is the largest single category of waste sent to landfills
Composting’s benefits include saving our community tax dollars. Kingston’s garbage is hauled more than 250 miles away to the Seneca Meadows Landfill. The tipping fees are extremely expensive and are getting more so with each passing year.
As it pertains to environmental justice, Seneca Meadows Landfill is located in Seneca Falls, a small town of a little more than 9,000 people. They are enduring great harms living next to one of the largest active landfills in New York State that accepts trash from communities like ours.
Established in 1953, Seneca Meadows landfill has a permitted waste capacity of 6,000 tons per day. The landfill will reach capacity by the end of 2025, coinciding with the expiration of its existing permit. They want to profit as much as they can and kick the can down the road to expand their capacity by 47 acres and extend their permit in 2040. Here’s what Seneca Lake Guardians, made up of community members living in Seneca Falls, think about that. We must understand how we are contributing to their community harms and stop it.
Recently, Ulster County announced it wanted to find a landfill of its own in the county with much public outrage. Now imagine how Seneca Falls community members feel about communities like ours sending our unending stream of trash there.
It’s unjust and unfair.
It’s why the county must approve its Zero Waste Management plan that it’s been working on for a long time, and why we endorse a landfill in Ulster County. Why should we place the burden of our waste on a community 250 miles away? The only way that we are going to make changes is to take on the burden right here at home.
Zero waste is key and composing is an opportunity for Kingston residents. Let’s get the ball rolling to take responsibility for what we are throwing out. Sign-up to Kingston Organics. I’ve taken pictures of my weekly haul to show you just how easy it is to get food scraps, meats, bones, etc. out of our waste stream.
