As you haul your garbage cans out to the curb, there is some trash you might want to leave behind. This applies to anyone who is composting. Over in the Bay Area, composting is not only good for the environment, it’s the law. As a way of hitting a “zero waste” goal, the city passed an ordinance that food waste left over by restaurants, fast food joints and hotels needs to be designated for compost. This doesn’t mean your nearby Burger King will have a compost pile out back. Instead, the food waste is separated and collected like any other type of recyclable.
Guillermo Rodriguez is the communications director for San Francisco’s Department of the Environment and knows all about composting. “Today, the city diverts about 80 percent of all its waste to recycling and composting,” Rodriguez told National Geographic. “That’s looking at all forms of waste, from residential to commercial, and it includes folks who commute here, tourists, and so on.”
Compare that to New York City’s meager 15% diverting of waste to recycling and you can see what a powerhouse compost city San Francisco has become. All of those nutrients for the soil don’t stay in the city.
“A lot of wineries in Napa and Sonoma are big buyers of the compost because it has a high nutrient value, so that’s a nice way to close out the loop from what we put in our green bins,” said Rodriguez. “The compost is also sold to individuals, landscapers, and the highway department. It is approved for use with certified organic soil.”
The key word here is “organic.” That’s important to know when you start your own compost pile. Although a lot of what you throw on a compost heap could be consider trash it might not be considered junk. You wouldn’t throw an old sofa or refrigerator onto the compost pile. For a job like that you should consider the services of Junk King Sonoma. These are the junk removal experts that service Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties.
All Junk King asks of you is “What do you want taken away?” The answer could be anything and everything. There have been some folks here in Sonoma who purchased a foreclosed property earmarked for renovation. The first step was to clear out everything the previous occupant left behind. In this case, the orders to Junk King would be simple: “Take it all away.”
At your home, you can be a bit more focused and targeted. You might have a few things in the garage or up in the attic or stuffed into a closet that you want gone. It doesn’t matter where you’re keeping the junk; Junk King Sonoma will take it away and you don’t need to drag anything to the curb. Just point, and the experienced haulers will take it away. One call to 1-888-888-JUNK can get the ball rolling.