Compost Trend in Portland Business

Did you know that around 75 percent of the waste that goes into landfills comes from businesses? A hefty percentage of that waste is made up of food and food contaminated paper or cardboard. Food waste is particularly damaging to the environment because the byproduct of decomposing organic matter creates a large amount of the greenhouse gas methane. Most people don’t realize how damaging their food waste can be on the environment. And when there is over 54,000 tons of food and food contaminated paper entering landfills every year, this is a big issue.




So if we can’t throw our food or food containers in the trash, what are we supposed to do with them? Ceasing to eat food obviously isn’t an option, so what about composting? Composting can be a good alternative for grocery stores, universities, hospitals, hotels, and a number of other facilities that generate a large amount of food related waste.



One local Portland business has adopted composting in recent years in an effort to reduce their negative environmental impact. Hot Lips Pizza has placed bins for composting alongside their garbage bins. These receptacles are complete with a list of foods and objects that can and should be placed in the compost bin so that their customers aren’t required to have an understanding of composting. For the curious customer, Hot Lips has included a segment on their website about the benefits of composting.



The Portland Farmer’s Market has also begun to provide receptacles for not only waste but composting and recycling. These bins come with a three dimensional set of examples over each in order to ensure that there is no misunderstanding. With the amount of disposable food containers sold at the numerous food and coffee booths at the farmer’s market, it’s no surprise that these notoriously eco friendly people have come up with a method for disposing of these items in a more environmentally friendly way.



These are only a couple of examples about the trend towards composting in businesses in Portland. Hopefully this trend will continue to pick up speed not only in Portland but in other cities as well. And maybe if people begin to be exposed to composting while they are out to eat or shopping for their vegetables for the week at the farmer’s market they will begin to consider composting in their own homes!







References:



http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=41786



http://www.hotlipspizza.com/about/sustainability/composting.html



http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2010/04/post_4.html