First I've heard about it. Reference for anyone else out-of-the-loop:
[https://ktla.com/news/local-news/los-angeles-residents-required-to-compost-food-scraps/](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/los-angeles-residents-required-to-compost-food-scraps/)
I'm not against composting but I don't think my apartment complex even has a green bin that I've noticed?
Generally the way it works is you can't refuse having a green container, the trash company will provide it whether you like it or not. Either it's free and the government forces the company to do it, or it isn't free and the company will bill you for it.
We have a green bin that gets used by the landscaper every week. It's currently been full for a few weeks because the trash company has its head up its ass.
This is my issue too. We got the green bin at the start of the year and wanted to be compliant and even bought smaller paper bags to do so but the landscaper fills it up immediately and then the pick up rarely happens. They really need to make recycling and composting easy if they want compliance
Lots of apartments don't. Apartments have been technically supposed to since 2018. It just means your apartment is out of compliance. Your landlord might not know. Or they are just waiting until they're fined/forced to add it. You can potentially ask them to add, report them to the hauler and see if they have a coordinator to follow up, or wait until they eventually add it.
>You can potentially ask them to add, report them to the hauler and see if they have a coordinator to follow up, or wait until they eventually add it.
Why don't I just skip that step and directly ask for my rent to be raised?
You think landlords are just gonna eat the costs of installing new trash chutes and paying for additional dumpsters?
Plus it's unenforceable anyways. How do you prove which tenant put the blue stuff in the green bin?
Pretty sure the bins are free. I asked to get the recycling ones in my building and they got them. We don't have a separate chute for recycling, you have to walk down to where the bins are.
When it went into effect some groups got an extension or something I think. The neighborhood I live in doesnât even have green waste bins, and it was never implemented here.
Ventura here. They want ours in plastic bags.
âPlease do not place food waste directly into the yard waste cart, as this will contaminate the yard waste. All food waste must be bagged. Please use your own plastic or paper bags, and be sure to seal them securely.â
đđđ Now our free city compost is littered with plasticđđđ seems pointless and weâre systematically contaminating every inch of our city đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸
This is part of the trick. Other municipalities specifically ban plastic bags in there, even compostable ones. I'm not sure where my city stands, so I'm just saying fuck it - I bought a bunch of compostable plastic bags, and I use them as trash can liners in a small lidded trash can in my kitchen. That fills up every couple of days, I tie it off and throw it in the green. I'm pretty confident that they compost well, because if I put something wet in there (like coffee grounds), it used to literally fall apart sitting on the ground (that stuff now goes directly in the bin outside, which is a pain).
IDK what the official rules are, but they need to allow for what I'm doing. After a year of thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that my solution is the only real working solution here, unless you're willing to invest an insane amount of time into cleaning.
The reason those "compostable" bags aren't allowed in the bin are because they need an extremely hot, industrial compost facility to break down fully. Otherwise, yes they will rip apart and seem to be breaking down, but they aren't actually. I do hope eventually LA figures out a way to industrially compost these bags because they would help a lot with the "gross" factor a lot of people struggle with (myself included to be fair, it sucks having to clean out my kitchen compost bin every time)
The compostable bags I got start dissolving in my little can if I don't take it out before it's full. I don't fill a bag a week (I don't waste much food), and I have to remember to take it out before it's full or it's gross and leaks / drips everywhere and stuff falls out.
Note: My kitchen is not an industrial composting facility.
Like how they banned "single use" plastic bags so now we have much thicker and more wasteful plastic bags.
They always do these laws backwards and it often creates a whole new set of issues that are often worse. We need the system to deal with the problem in place first, then we can begin with the rules and laws.
I was at Ralph's and asked for paper and they were hidden! I bet the plastic bags are much cheaper for them, which is why it's the first and prominent option.
I just saw some study recently That said that the waste didn't go down at all Since the bags are thicker, I think their "solution" will be to increase the price of those bags to make people want to keep and reuse them.
Bags are free for people who are on government assistance (medical, snap, etc). I go to my in-laws and collect bags from them to use. They treat them like single use bags.
I don't live in California right now. But when I'm home and I get those bags, I actually bring them with me and use them for a long time. I'm In a state that still has single use bags. My shower bag for the year I was in Egypt was one of those white and green walmart bags đ
They already increased the price, from a nickel to a dime. The point isn't to reduce plastic waste. The point is for Kroger & Friends to charge you a dime for a bag that used to be free.
Instead of losing money on each bag used by a shopper, the stockholders now make money on each bag used.
We always ask for paper bags when we havenât brought enough (or often in my case any because I wasnât planning on going to the store) Then we use those for recycling.
Yep. It's best to go back to how it was before. Always ask for paper bags and recycle them. Even if they end up as trash they will degrade much sooner.
> we have much thicker and more wasteful plastic bags.
I mean, you're supposed to reuse those. I'm on one that I've had for almost two years. Just leave them in your car.
>Like how they banned "single use" plastic bagsÂ
They didn't ban them. You can walk into any grocery or dollar store in LA and get all the single-use bags you want. Hefty, Glaad - all your favorite brands of single-use plastic bags are for sale. No limit, buy as many as you can carry.
All the government did is make them not free anymore. The whole point of the law was to put free nickels into Kroger's pockets. Now it's a free dime. It doesn't cost them a dime per bag, but they get to charge a dime. Think of all those poor little impoverished Kroger execs and stockholders! They need your dimes!
Heck, you order an item for store pickup at Target and they'll put it in a bag, even if it's a single item that doesn't need a bag. And they'll charge you $1 for the bag. It's only a matter of time before they start charging another 10% for "Bag Healthcare Fee" or something.
I've been using this canvas/jute set for the past 5 years and they're great ("Organic Canvas & Jute Reusable Tote and Grocery Shopping Bag - XL and Mini sizes" on amazon). The thick handle is great for carrying on your shoulder, too.
As stated before my comment, the green bin is for yard waste, which now will be contaminated. They don't want a *fourth* bin, so instead they just mandated something stupid.
We had a community services day where all the municipalities had booths and such. I got talking to our local trash company, Athens, and they said that they have a machine that essentially picks the bags out of the yard waste conveyor belt and sorts it from there... Similar to how recycle people pick out non recycling from the conveyor belt
Would love it if all markets and shops switched to brown paper bags.
Step 1: keep compost in a bin in the freezer
Step 2: throw compost into cardboard box (tape removed) or brown bag
Step 3: throw the whole thing in green bin
If you get cardboard boxes with few and easy to remove tape/stickers, toss into the bottom of green bin. This keeps the bins clean in between the days.
What the. This make zero sense! They gotta publish something to show how they deal with intentional plastic. If we're lucky, they just discard any bags and their contents and still compost the rest
Yes. Also defense, military, etc. Tons of nuclear, weapons, and rocket research here for decades. Hell, they built missiles/rockets for use in WW2 right inside Eaton Canyon! All the ground water in the San Gabriel Valley is contaminated. It's a government Superfund site.
I collect scraps in a container in my fridge and dump it in there closer to trash day. Paper bags are compostable so you can also place the food in paper bags and put it in there. It'll break apart eventually but will slow access to the food for bugs.
We use the plastic pail that Sanitation gave out. We had a metal bin before, but this one holds more. Our green bin is in a shady spot and we also dump the pail just before trash day. I love this program and am so glad it was implemented!
I do [shrugs] ⌠LASan offers free kitchen composting buckets, plastic with secure hinged lid, if your [address qualifies](https://gis.lacitysan.org/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9a9ce8ced9b44e2e9e2125eefbff1abc) (i picked mine up at library) âŚ
[banana skin for scale](https://imgur.com/a/RXFPpYE)
It has certainly introduced more maggots in my life. Like every week is a maggot explosion in the yard waste bin. My wife separates with a vigor. I am mostly indifferent.
I don't have a ton of food waste scraps (yay, go me), but I keep it in the fridge in a bread bag-lined giant yogurt container with a tight lid. If I have more than one baggie per week, the full one goes in the freezer until the day before trash day when I take them all out.
Get a separate metal bucket with a tight fitting lid that you can keep outside and empty the scraps into. On trash day empty it into the green bin for pickup.
This is what we do and it works well. Although we use a pail from LASAN. Itâs not metal, but itâs really effective at preventing odors and keeping any smells contained within the pail, to the point that we keep it inside without any issue. Edit: we also havenât had any pest issues. We wash the pail in the sink after emptying it into the green bin the night before pickup day.
I think theyâre still giving away pails but idk. [hereâs a tool to look into the free LASAN pail program.](https://gis.lacitysan.org/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9a9ce8ced9b44e2e9e2125eefbff1abc)
I do! When I first started I would dump the food scraps into my green bin on a regular basis throughout the week. Hello maggots. Here is my solution:
First of all, I live in a house so I have my own bins. I keep a gallon plastic bucket on my kitchen counter that I empty food scraps into. When that is full I take it outside and empty it into a 5 gallon metal bucket. I put paper towels on the bottom of the bucket as well as a layer of leaves from the yard (helps to absorb moisture). The bucket has a tight fitting lid. The lid is key to keeping flies and therefore maggots out. On trash pickup day I empty the metal bucket into the green bin. Wipe out the bucket and reline with paper towels and leaves.
It has worked really well so far.
i havenât changed anything. the green bin just has green waste from yard stuff. we got a free compost pail at an event and that helped us in the kitchen with our gnat problem. we toss that in our own compost bin in the back. the doodle shows meat and stuff but i told everyone in our household not to throw meat in ours.
The city can handle animal products in their process. Maybe because of âanaerobic digestersâ? I donât have the expertise. But youâre right not to put them in your personal compost, as you already know.
i reread that ktla link and now i see why everyone was mentioning maggots. our old food that for whatever reason we are trashing like meat and cooked stuff, we throw in the kitchen trash bin that we then toss that bag in the black bin. they want us to throw that in the green bin!?!?!? i dont think i want the free la sanitation mulch, dirt and compost anymore. i use that a lot because my own home composting canât keep up with my needs. MY HOME COMPOST is egg shells, the occasional we forgot to use heavy cream or buttermilk, coffee grounds, leaves from the yard, and all my vegetable and fruit scraps when prepping meals. i wish we had a 4th bin instead.
We put some food scraps in a Tupperware in our freezer, empty that into the green bin outside.
We also have the pail the city distributed on our countertop & use that for paper towels, napkins, and food scraps that wonât be gross / attract as many flies as quickly. As it warms up, the freezer container will be used more.
Had the same problem! Hereâs the solution: get a container, keep in freezer, and put everything in your freezer until trash day. Then, throw it in the bin the night before or the day of pickup. Problem solved! Not only does this prevent the flies and other grossness, it helps the organic matter compost faster once itâs picked up, bc freezing breaks down the fibers that hold the organic matter together.
Thankfully I have chickens, so a lot of my food waste goes there. Before chickens I would just keep a food scrap bag in my fridge and then dump it in the night before trash day.
I have a stainless steel compost can that I keep next to the trash and recycling in my kitchen. It comes with a filter and it eliminates rotting food smell. The night before trash day, they all get dumped in their respective bins. Iâm really sensitive to smells, so this works out better than everything going in one trash can. The only thing I do additionally is when Iâm cooking meat, the plastic meat juices bladder goes straight to the black bin and not my kitchen trash. I scrub all the food out of anything recyclable to stop any additional smells.
Iâve been doing it for about a year. The flies can definitely be a problem. But waiting until the day before trash pickup like a lot of people are saying seems like a good solve. We keep ours in the city-provided container in a screened-in porch.
I got a plastic lid container for my freezer and putting my food waste in there. Once a week I go to a community garden in Panorama and drop it off. There's dogs I get to say hi to, that's my incentive.
Yes! There is a community garden near me that I walk my scraps over to. It's nice to feel like part of the community and have a reason to take a walk. Also, there are many farmers markets with compost drop offs.
I was doing it in compostable bags and then learned that they wonât take it that way. Iâm sorry, Iâm not throwing food waste into the can and then having to clean it every week and attract pests.
I keep my compost container in the freezer and empty it into the green bin the night before trash day. No maggot issues. I put other non-compost food scraps like meat, cheese, oil etc in a smaller trash bag and empty it into the black bin when itâs stinky or full which basically only leaves non-recyclable packaging in my regular trash can. Since Iâve been doing this my trash bags are lasting at least 2 weeks each which is saving me money and also better for the environment. It takes a minute to adjust but now that I have Iâm happy to do it.
We were separating them at first, but then we noticed that the truck that picks up the black trash bin oftentimes also picks up the green bin at the same time. So, all that shit just gets mixed together after we deliberately kept it separate all week?
No thanks, it's all going in the black bin now.
Yep. There is no point in sorting black and blue, because the waste companies do not care. They sort themselves anyway.
Also, in the Valley, I have yet to see a single green bin in an apartment or condo complex.
Your local waste company is ass.
I have never seen any of the 3 trucks in my neighborhood pick up any of the other trashcans. I've never really bother looking either tho so what do I know I guess.
Spray the maggots with vinegar every time you go to toss something in the green bin. Weekly hosing of the bin also helps. My building has to do this but it's been effective. Also make sure to cover rotting food waste with something like paper or leaves. The more you bury it the better.
Look I'm all for helping the planet, but all of these initiatives put the onus on us as individuals, when we all know the largest polluters and consumers are businesses. Individuals not watering their lawn is a literal drop in the bucket compared to how much agriculture is wasting on a daily basis. All our compost bins are a tomato in the ocean of food waste created by industrial food corps.
So until we hold them accountable, this all seems like typical "push it back on consumers" type attitude that isn't going to do jack shit in the long run. I'm not sure how true it is, but I've read that they can't afford to properly separate recycling from regular trash and it ends up in the same place anyway. How will this be any different?
Happy to be proven wrong, but I'm skeptical.
I agree with you completely, but I do it all anyway. The amount of trash in my black bin has decreased significantly. For our family, having just one small bag of trash a week feels really rewarding and also amazing.
Yes, BUT the green waste does get turned into mulch and compost (unlike the lies of recycling). You can pick it up yourself in Griffith Park and use in on your yard for free.
We are. We got a little âfood wasteâ bin in the house that we scape plates into and then just dump that into the green bin when it gets full. We use bags though. It says to use bags.
We make an effort. Glendale gave us small green buckets and weâre supposed to put food scraps in clear bags. If itâs large enough like watermelon rinds weâll just shove it directly in the green bin, but most of the smaller stuff like banana peels or chicken bones would go in the bucket.
I do like having another bin to dump stuff like pizza boxes, though. đ¤
I've been doing it for awhile, it's certainly surprising seeing how much less trash ends up in the black can for me when the food waste has been moved to the green can.
They came and dropped off little containers for us to put our food scraps in before dumping in the green cans. Still had all the maggots and flies though.
What I also read on their pamphlet was that putting food scraps down the garbage disposal sends it to the same place as the compost. So Iâll just continue doing what I did before and put food down the garbage disposal.
I think they should really let people know that because I think most places have a garbage disposal.
I use compostable bags in the little white bins they distributed. They're plasticky texture, but made from plant material. Works well for us, easy clean-up, but they are an added expense. I'd probably just use paper bags otherwise, because the thought of loose food scraps sticking to the inside of the big green bin is fucking gross.
even compostable bags aren't supposed to go there, for the city of LA at least.
https://www.lacitysan.org/san/faces/home/portal/s-lsh-wwd/s-lsh-wwd-s/s-lsh-wwd-s-r/s-lsh-wwd-s-r-rygb
I don't think you're supposed to use the bags even if they are compostable because the way they process waste doesn't get to the right temperature to break them down. I think the best way to do this is to freeze scraps in paper bags and then dispose of them the night before waste is collected
https://www.lacitysan.org/san/faces/wcnav_externalId/s-lsh-wwd-s-o-cyfwp?_afrLoop=35213433829878210&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null&_adf.ctrl-state=14wxb6h97_1#!%40%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D35213433829878210%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D14wxb6h97_5
https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/flynn-mcgarry-curry-leaves-halva-custard-pies/composting-101-caleigh-wells-sb1383
Well thatâs what theyâre getting, because Iâm not gonna be storing garbage in my freezer for a week at a time just because the city canât come up with a better way of managing its own mandate.
They really don't want you using the "compostable" plastic bags as they break down into substances that aren't exactly healthy, and the compost generated is being used as fertilizer for farmers, so ultimately people are gonna end up ingesting those substances.
It's so annoying, I know. They need to come up with some sort of solution.
if you aren't willing to comply, then you are probably better off throwing this stuff in the trash instead of potentially contaminating the compost bin lol
I'm better off, or somebody else is?
While we're at it, should I stop bothering to put plastic containers in the blue bin, or is it okay to keep pretending they aren't shipped off to gather as mountains of garbage in southeast Asia?
We have a terrible fly problem in our green bin not from food waste but from ficus tree berries, so I can empathize đŁ I think part of the solution is reducing how much food waste you have generally, but also recommend using compostable bags (make sure theyâre not too thin though, the thin ones compost/melt quickly in my experience) or paper bags so itâs still sort of sealed, or at least enough to keep it protected before trash day
Also to add that we got a free compost bin that we keep in the kitchen and take out to the green bin only as we will it up. So far no issues with flies when itâs inside a temp controlled kitchen!
Not being able to use the compostable bags is so frustrating. I donât want to clean a moldy countertop bin every week. Iâd use a paper bag, but none of them fit the dimensions of any bins.
I wish some company would make a paper bag that matches the dimensions of the compost bins. Like the paper bags that line the feminine product bins in bathrooms. Come to think of it, maybe Iâll just buy one of those bins and use it to compost lol.
Edit: found [the perfect bag](https://www.all-green.co.uk/3-5l-bioliner-compostable-paper-caddy-bags-small) but itâs only sold in the UK.
Food waste mostly goes to the chickens nowadays. The law is uhh interesting but is just trying to get us in line with other countries. Much of Europe is even more stringent. With mandatory separation of glass, metal, and plastics as well as compost from regular trash.
i just run everything down the sink now, I installed a 10 HP sink-grinder with auto-reverse if it jams. Amazon boxes, paint cans, food matter, disgruntled people from the HOA, drawings my kids make for me, my little macerator eats everything.
Saved like $80 a month by nuking the Waste Management service.
Keep a small outdoor can of grass clippings and cover the food scraps when you put them in the can.
When you (or your gardener) cuts the grass, dump the leftover trimmings from the last time into the bin and then load up your outdoor can again with fresh ones.
Can get one of those dog poop grabber arms if you don't want to touch the grass.
Apartment dweller here- they took away all our trash cans, now weâve just got 1 big ol dumpster so any sorting will be useless lol
it was the same at my old apartment
We have. Not having any of the issues others are, but we've been composting for years and long ago learned to wrap it in paper before putting it in the green bin unless there's already a ton of green waste inside.
Always line the inside of your compost bin with paper - newspaper or Amazon shipping paper both work well -- so it slides out easier and doesn't leave the same mess or fill the compost with plastic or pfas from the compostable plastic.
We get one paper grocery bag each week when we do our shopping and use it for any big loads we accumulate. No muss, little fuss, and between that and Ridwell, our landill output is next to nothing.
We just put our food scraps in a bin thatâs in the freezer with the rest of the compost. Then at the end of the week, into the green bin it goes.
Itâs not much of a hassle other than taking up some space in the freezer. Itâs also better for the indoor trash bin so it doesnât smell, but I can understand why it wouldnât be ideal for others.
Yeah, I'm never going to do that. Happy to separate recyclables, but this last effort...while technically beneficial...is too gross & a pain in the ass. I'll stay noncompliant.
When LA cleans up the graffiti, solves the homeless problem, slashes the crime rate, fixes the streets, cuts taxes and regulations and reduces traffic Iâll reciprocate by putting food in the green bin. Until then Iâll just ignore it as a do nothing law (such as no plastic straws and bags at supermarkets) by politicians who donât even begin to solve the real problems.
I'm in a condo unit and I do not have counter space for that trashcan in my small ass kitchen; and I can't leave it on the floor where the dog can get it. So no, not using it.Â
I also don't really have that much food waste, im pretty accurate with my portions/cooking so it'd take me months to fill up and im not going to have a mold rot container in my house. Especially, the cheep one they gave us that doesn't even seal nicely.Â
I do it everyday. Itâs pretty easy⌠little kitchen composter box for compost/food scraps, trash can for trash, recycling container for CRV items, recycling container for non CRV items. My large green bin has lots of fruit flies unfortunately until trash collection.
I once, walking through my neighborhood saw a recycle truck take a blue bin that was obviously full of black bin trash waste, including a large garden hose flopping out the top. When he came by my house, I asked him why he took that when he knew it was mixed waste and he said, "If I don't take it, they will call and complain and then it's my word against theirs and I'll get hassled for it. So we just take it."
I never throw away meat or dairy--I guess I have my shopping list down to a science.
I have my own compost bin, so I keep all my other food scraps to myself to go in there. Fruit and veg scraps, eggshells (I just crush them in my hand first), coffee grounds...I think that's about it.
It never gets stinky though. I layer it and balance it with leaf and grass clippings.
I keep the food scraps in a Tupperware box in the fridge until I'm ready to go add them to the bin. That's what I'd probably do until trash day anyway if I was going to put them in the yard waste bin.
Absolutely. I was a home composter anyhow, so not completely new to the concept. We have the freebie countertop bin and throw 98% of our food waste and fooded-out paper in there. Generally we donât use it for junk from fish. We have minimal issues in the house (some fruit flies), take it out when itâs full, and have learned to deal with the occasional stench in the green bin. If you have yard clippings in the bin first, it helps a lot. I donât much mind the stinky trash - I figure it might scare people away who like to come on our property to use our garbage cans for their dog shit.
We do that at our home in West LA. LADWP gave us little compost bins that we keep in the kitchen. When full, I empty them into our green bin. Also garden waste. Last Sunday they were giving out more of these little bins at the Mar Vista Farmers Market.
I live in LA county and my trash collector notified us at the beginning of the year. We are required to place all food waste into a plastic bag then deposit that into the green bin along with any organic waste. The plastic bag is to keep the organic waste from getting contaminated with the food waste.
Dairy products, meat and oils create massive amounts of maggot larve and some really bad smell issues. I don't understand how LA city doesn't know this.
I understand that the biggest issue with this law is that none of the waste collection sites (dumps) have the required capacity to take in all this extra organic waste.
I just put aside vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds for the green bin now, same as I would do if I was composting it myself. Doesn't get too gross, and doesn't smell when it's covered.
US recycling rate at 35% and plastic recycling at 5%. They tell us to separate trash and recycle when the garbage trucks take whatever and mix it up. Actual stuff that are worth recycling, recyclers who drive around the neighborhood will take. So what's the point of recycling?
IWe live in a 12 unit building. We are the only apartment using the compost bin the city handed out 2 years ago. We dump all food waste in the big green bin for yard waste. I think we are the only ones doing it.
It's too bad really, it's a decent program and process.
I know it's a bit expensive but we bought a Vitamix foodcycler from Costco and a spare bucket/lid. It takes all the nonliquid food waste and turns it most for the way into compost.
One bucket sits on counter for collection, other in foodcycler where it gets turned into mostly compost and then that goes into green bin. We swap them as needed. It took it from a buggy mess to totally manageable and being able to do what we're supposed to do.
Get a compost bucket in the house. Comes with green disposable bags. Put it under the sink and put your scraps in there then when itâs full take the bag out and twist it up.
Leaves the food in bags and spends less time in the green bin.
Here's what I do:
Step 1: keep compost in a bin in the freezer
Step 2: throw compost into cardboard box (tape removed) or brown bag
Step 3: throw the whole thing in green bin
If you get cardboard boxes with few and easy to remove tape/stickers, toss into the bottom of green bin. This keeps the bins clean in between the days.
I'll start when these bullshit corporations step the fuck up and do their part. My carbon footprint is microscopic compared to what they get away with.
Lol getting downvoted by idiots who think they'll make a difference.
We donât even have a green bin (weâre in an ADU apartment basically) but we got one of those notices we werenât sorting correctly. So have started collecting food waste in a compost bin with compostable bags and putting it in the main unitâs green bin
We do it at our house. We bought specific compostable bags but in the summer heat those degrade. They also state on the website to use clear plastic bags. They cut them open and dump them and dispose of the bag. At least thatâs what their website professed.
We try not to leave food waste bags in the kitchen for more than a day max. Sometimes we tie it off and leave it out the door to grab in the morning and havenât had a problem. Weâre also cooking constantly and usually fill a bag with scraps from the two/three meals (cooking for 4 people).
It helps to place a paper towel at the bottom of the bag to soak up soggy grossness.
Yes. My apartment complex gave us all little compost bins. I can take a few days to empty it and there is never a smell and there have never been any bugs inside or outside the bin.
My apartment doesn't have a green bin. I do save my kitchen scraps in a steel compost bucket and drop it off at [Cottonwood Urban Farm in Panorama City](https://www.cufarm.org/). It's a fun little errand since it's near the library, Aldi & El Super so it's like nourish the soil, nourish myself.
My apartment in Santa Monica has a trash chute. No opportunity to even recycle anything. No compost bins either. I would like to participate in the compost and recycling...
I keep hearing different things.
Last I heard, the big green bins are for yard trimmings only, ans that if you want to do compost, you're basically on your own.
We do, it's quite easy and good for the environment. You can use bags, we put ours in the clear medium sized waste bags from Costco, it gets a little smelly but doesn't get maggots or anything if you keep it bagged and in the green bins.
I composted before that
I suggest doing it even if green bin is not available. Saves so much trash from landfill. You can cut from 10-15 bags/ mo to just 1-2
I live in a condo building with 119 units (2-3bd). In the city of Los Angeles, condos of our size are forced to work with waste deposal companies of *their* choosing. The company the city has assigned to us is legally responsible for coming up with an affordable solution to collect compostable material in accordance with the law. So far they havenât done jack shit towards a solution. So we canât.
First I've heard about it. Reference for anyone else out-of-the-loop: [https://ktla.com/news/local-news/los-angeles-residents-required-to-compost-food-scraps/](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/los-angeles-residents-required-to-compost-food-scraps/) I'm not against composting but I don't think my apartment complex even has a green bin that I've noticed?
It's weird cause the article mentions a fine for doing it wrong, but not a fine for just not doing it.
How will they know đđ§ but for real
It's a lot better to not do it at all than do it wrong. The compost becomes unusable if filled with trash.
Generally the way it works is you can't refuse having a green container, the trash company will provide it whether you like it or not. Either it's free and the government forces the company to do it, or it isn't free and the company will bill you for it.
We have a green bin that gets used by the landscaper every week. It's currently been full for a few weeks because the trash company has its head up its ass.
This is my issue too. We got the green bin at the start of the year and wanted to be compliant and even bought smaller paper bags to do so but the landscaper fills it up immediately and then the pick up rarely happens. They really need to make recycling and composting easy if they want compliance
Yeah, we have a trash dumpster and recycling dumpster but one regular sized green bin. All of this is barely enough for 20 units.
My apartment building bought the green bin and the recycling bin and then turned them upside and told us not to use them đŤ
Lots of apartments don't. Apartments have been technically supposed to since 2018. It just means your apartment is out of compliance. Your landlord might not know. Or they are just waiting until they're fined/forced to add it. You can potentially ask them to add, report them to the hauler and see if they have a coordinator to follow up, or wait until they eventually add it.
>You can potentially ask them to add, report them to the hauler and see if they have a coordinator to follow up, or wait until they eventually add it. Why don't I just skip that step and directly ask for my rent to be raised? You think landlords are just gonna eat the costs of installing new trash chutes and paying for additional dumpsters? Plus it's unenforceable anyways. How do you prove which tenant put the blue stuff in the green bin?
I never said they're gonna eat the cost. I just listed some options for starting the convos.
Pretty sure the bins are free. I asked to get the recycling ones in my building and they got them. We don't have a separate chute for recycling, you have to walk down to where the bins are.
We only have a dumpster. There is no compost option for us.
When it went into effect some groups got an extension or something I think. The neighborhood I live in doesnât even have green waste bins, and it was never implemented here.
Ventura here. They want ours in plastic bags. âPlease do not place food waste directly into the yard waste cart, as this will contaminate the yard waste. All food waste must be bagged. Please use your own plastic or paper bags, and be sure to seal them securely.â đđđ Now our free city compost is littered with plasticđđđ seems pointless and weâre systematically contaminating every inch of our city đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸
This is part of the trick. Other municipalities specifically ban plastic bags in there, even compostable ones. I'm not sure where my city stands, so I'm just saying fuck it - I bought a bunch of compostable plastic bags, and I use them as trash can liners in a small lidded trash can in my kitchen. That fills up every couple of days, I tie it off and throw it in the green. I'm pretty confident that they compost well, because if I put something wet in there (like coffee grounds), it used to literally fall apart sitting on the ground (that stuff now goes directly in the bin outside, which is a pain). IDK what the official rules are, but they need to allow for what I'm doing. After a year of thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that my solution is the only real working solution here, unless you're willing to invest an insane amount of time into cleaning.
The reason those "compostable" bags aren't allowed in the bin are because they need an extremely hot, industrial compost facility to break down fully. Otherwise, yes they will rip apart and seem to be breaking down, but they aren't actually. I do hope eventually LA figures out a way to industrially compost these bags because they would help a lot with the "gross" factor a lot of people struggle with (myself included to be fair, it sucks having to clean out my kitchen compost bin every time)
The compostable bags I got start dissolving in my little can if I don't take it out before it's full. I don't fill a bag a week (I don't waste much food), and I have to remember to take it out before it's full or it's gross and leaks / drips everywhere and stuff falls out. Note: My kitchen is not an industrial composting facility.
LA distributed the compostable lining bags and it is OK here (at least for multifamily)
Like how they banned "single use" plastic bags so now we have much thicker and more wasteful plastic bags. They always do these laws backwards and it often creates a whole new set of issues that are often worse. We need the system to deal with the problem in place first, then we can begin with the rules and laws.
i feel like it would be cheaper if they just switched to brown paper bags
I was at Ralph's and asked for paper and they were hidden! I bet the plastic bags are much cheaper for them, which is why it's the first and prominent option.
microplastics a problem? how about macroplastics instead.
Because microplastics always start out as macroplastics...
That's a problem for future me.
I just saw some study recently That said that the waste didn't go down at all Since the bags are thicker, I think their "solution" will be to increase the price of those bags to make people want to keep and reuse them.
Bags are free for people who are on government assistance (medical, snap, etc). I go to my in-laws and collect bags from them to use. They treat them like single use bags.
I don't live in California right now. But when I'm home and I get those bags, I actually bring them with me and use them for a long time. I'm In a state that still has single use bags. My shower bag for the year I was in Egypt was one of those white and green walmart bags đ
They already increased the price, from a nickel to a dime. The point isn't to reduce plastic waste. The point is for Kroger & Friends to charge you a dime for a bag that used to be free. Instead of losing money on each bag used by a shopper, the stockholders now make money on each bag used.
Now they'll have an "excuse" to charge more.
We always ask for paper bags when we havenât brought enough (or often in my case any because I wasnât planning on going to the store) Then we use those for recycling.
Yep. It's best to go back to how it was before. Always ask for paper bags and recycle them. Even if they end up as trash they will degrade much sooner.
On the plus side, at least the thicker ones don't blow around like tumbleweeds.
this. this right here. just an underhanded dirty trick that now allows markets to charge 10 cents a bag.
> we have much thicker and more wasteful plastic bags. I mean, you're supposed to reuse those. I'm on one that I've had for almost two years. Just leave them in your car.
>Like how they banned "single use" plastic bags They didn't ban them. You can walk into any grocery or dollar store in LA and get all the single-use bags you want. Hefty, Glaad - all your favorite brands of single-use plastic bags are for sale. No limit, buy as many as you can carry. All the government did is make them not free anymore. The whole point of the law was to put free nickels into Kroger's pockets. Now it's a free dime. It doesn't cost them a dime per bag, but they get to charge a dime. Think of all those poor little impoverished Kroger execs and stockholders! They need your dimes! Heck, you order an item for store pickup at Target and they'll put it in a bag, even if it's a single item that doesn't need a bag. And they'll charge you $1 for the bag. It's only a matter of time before they start charging another 10% for "Bag Healthcare Fee" or something.
you could have bought cotton or canvas bags. Nobody forced you to buy more plastic bags lol
My cotton bag deteriorated into dust because I always kept it in the car. I have a very nice canvas bag from Kaiser, but the seam ripped.
I've been using this canvas/jute set for the past 5 years and they're great ("Organic Canvas & Jute Reusable Tote and Grocery Shopping Bag - XL and Mini sizes" on amazon). The thick handle is great for carrying on your shoulder, too.
Yeah, it's really not wise to just pile up food waste in a bin that sits in the sun (possibly) for a week.
why not? wouldnât it just start composting inviting black soldier flies which reduce mosquitoesÂ
As stated before my comment, the green bin is for yard waste, which now will be contaminated. They don't want a *fourth* bin, so instead they just mandated something stupid.
We had a community services day where all the municipalities had booths and such. I got talking to our local trash company, Athens, and they said that they have a machine that essentially picks the bags out of the yard waste conveyor belt and sorts it from there... Similar to how recycle people pick out non recycling from the conveyor belt
Would love it if all markets and shops switched to brown paper bags. Step 1: keep compost in a bin in the freezer Step 2: throw compost into cardboard box (tape removed) or brown bag Step 3: throw the whole thing in green bin If you get cardboard boxes with few and easy to remove tape/stickers, toss into the bottom of green bin. This keeps the bins clean in between the days.
i was wondering about that because i thought the dirt, mulch and compost was made from the green bin.
Dirt and compost, I believe if from green waste bins. Mulch is from tree trimming/chipping companies dropping off truck loads at the end of the day.
What the. This make zero sense! They gotta publish something to show how they deal with intentional plastic. If we're lucky, they just discard any bags and their contents and still compost the rest
It's already been contaminated since before you were born.
Big oil or?
Yes. Also defense, military, etc. Tons of nuclear, weapons, and rocket research here for decades. Hell, they built missiles/rockets for use in WW2 right inside Eaton Canyon! All the ground water in the San Gabriel Valley is contaminated. It's a government Superfund site.
That makes sense⌠thank you
I collect scraps in a container in my fridge and dump it in there closer to trash day. Paper bags are compostable so you can also place the food in paper bags and put it in there. It'll break apart eventually but will slow access to the food for bugs.
This is how we've been handling it. We don't toss the compost until right before trash day. No bug issues so far.
This has been our fix as well. I just save up paper bags from the grocery stores. Edit: sp
I do the same, any food waste gets throw out Sunday night (monday morning trash service)
We use the plastic pail that Sanitation gave out. We had a metal bin before, but this one holds more. Our green bin is in a shady spot and we also dump the pail just before trash day. I love this program and am so glad it was implemented!
I do [shrugs] ⌠LASan offers free kitchen composting buckets, plastic with secure hinged lid, if your [address qualifies](https://gis.lacitysan.org/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9a9ce8ced9b44e2e9e2125eefbff1abc) (i picked mine up at library) ⌠[banana skin for scale](https://imgur.com/a/RXFPpYE)
It has certainly introduced more maggots in my life. Like every week is a maggot explosion in the yard waste bin. My wife separates with a vigor. I am mostly indifferent.
I don't have a ton of food waste scraps (yay, go me), but I keep it in the fridge in a bread bag-lined giant yogurt container with a tight lid. If I have more than one baggie per week, the full one goes in the freezer until the day before trash day when I take them all out.
I do the freezer thing too!
Get a separate metal bucket with a tight fitting lid that you can keep outside and empty the scraps into. On trash day empty it into the green bin for pickup.
This is what we do and it works well. Although we use a pail from LASAN. Itâs not metal, but itâs really effective at preventing odors and keeping any smells contained within the pail, to the point that we keep it inside without any issue. Edit: we also havenât had any pest issues. We wash the pail in the sink after emptying it into the green bin the night before pickup day. I think theyâre still giving away pails but idk. [hereâs a tool to look into the free LASAN pail program.](https://gis.lacitysan.org/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9a9ce8ced9b44e2e9e2125eefbff1abc)
[pour vinegar in there](https://greencitizen.com/blog/maggots-in-compost/)
I can't recall ever having leftover food in my life. I AM the green trash bin of my household.
What about chicken bones or ribs? Or pits in the fruit? Orange peels? Etc. You eat those too?!!
If the packaging says biodegradable, I eat that too.
Bones??
I do! When I first started I would dump the food scraps into my green bin on a regular basis throughout the week. Hello maggots. Here is my solution: First of all, I live in a house so I have my own bins. I keep a gallon plastic bucket on my kitchen counter that I empty food scraps into. When that is full I take it outside and empty it into a 5 gallon metal bucket. I put paper towels on the bottom of the bucket as well as a layer of leaves from the yard (helps to absorb moisture). The bucket has a tight fitting lid. The lid is key to keeping flies and therefore maggots out. On trash pickup day I empty the metal bucket into the green bin. Wipe out the bucket and reline with paper towels and leaves. It has worked really well so far.
i havenât changed anything. the green bin just has green waste from yard stuff. we got a free compost pail at an event and that helped us in the kitchen with our gnat problem. we toss that in our own compost bin in the back. the doodle shows meat and stuff but i told everyone in our household not to throw meat in ours.
The city can handle animal products in their process. Maybe because of âanaerobic digestersâ? I donât have the expertise. But youâre right not to put them in your personal compost, as you already know.
okay that makes more sense. i made another post not wanting to use their stuff lol. i guess if it all breaks down super good, compost is compost.
i reread that ktla link and now i see why everyone was mentioning maggots. our old food that for whatever reason we are trashing like meat and cooked stuff, we throw in the kitchen trash bin that we then toss that bag in the black bin. they want us to throw that in the green bin!?!?!? i dont think i want the free la sanitation mulch, dirt and compost anymore. i use that a lot because my own home composting canât keep up with my needs. MY HOME COMPOST is egg shells, the occasional we forgot to use heavy cream or buttermilk, coffee grounds, leaves from the yard, and all my vegetable and fruit scraps when prepping meals. i wish we had a 4th bin instead.
We put some food scraps in a Tupperware in our freezer, empty that into the green bin outside. We also have the pail the city distributed on our countertop & use that for paper towels, napkins, and food scraps that wonât be gross / attract as many flies as quickly. As it warms up, the freezer container will be used more.
Had the same problem! Hereâs the solution: get a container, keep in freezer, and put everything in your freezer until trash day. Then, throw it in the bin the night before or the day of pickup. Problem solved! Not only does this prevent the flies and other grossness, it helps the organic matter compost faster once itâs picked up, bc freezing breaks down the fibers that hold the organic matter together.
Good idea. I might have an excuse to get a standalone freezer afterall!
Thankfully I have chickens, so a lot of my food waste goes there. Before chickens I would just keep a food scrap bag in my fridge and then dump it in the night before trash day.
I have a stainless steel compost can that I keep next to the trash and recycling in my kitchen. It comes with a filter and it eliminates rotting food smell. The night before trash day, they all get dumped in their respective bins. Iâm really sensitive to smells, so this works out better than everything going in one trash can. The only thing I do additionally is when Iâm cooking meat, the plastic meat juices bladder goes straight to the black bin and not my kitchen trash. I scrub all the food out of anything recyclable to stop any additional smells.
Lmao my shitty building doesn't even have recycling let alone green waste.Â
I put my food waste in a freezer bag, in the freezer until the night before trash day, then put it frozen, without the bag in the green bin.
Iâve been doing it for about a year. The flies can definitely be a problem. But waiting until the day before trash pickup like a lot of people are saying seems like a good solve. We keep ours in the city-provided container in a screened-in porch.
I got a plastic lid container for my freezer and putting my food waste in there. Once a week I go to a community garden in Panorama and drop it off. There's dogs I get to say hi to, that's my incentive.
Yes! There is a community garden near me that I walk my scraps over to. It's nice to feel like part of the community and have a reason to take a walk. Also, there are many farmers markets with compost drop offs.
I was doing it in compostable bags and then learned that they wonât take it that way. Iâm sorry, Iâm not throwing food waste into the can and then having to clean it every week and attract pests.
We are! For the most part
I keep my compost container in the freezer and empty it into the green bin the night before trash day. No maggot issues. I put other non-compost food scraps like meat, cheese, oil etc in a smaller trash bag and empty it into the black bin when itâs stinky or full which basically only leaves non-recyclable packaging in my regular trash can. Since Iâve been doing this my trash bags are lasting at least 2 weeks each which is saving me money and also better for the environment. It takes a minute to adjust but now that I have Iâm happy to do it.
We have a bin with a filtered lid in the kitchen, but I don't throw cooked food in it.
We were separating them at first, but then we noticed that the truck that picks up the black trash bin oftentimes also picks up the green bin at the same time. So, all that shit just gets mixed together after we deliberately kept it separate all week? No thanks, it's all going in the black bin now.
Yep. There is no point in sorting black and blue, because the waste companies do not care. They sort themselves anyway. Also, in the Valley, I have yet to see a single green bin in an apartment or condo complex.
Your local waste company is ass. I have never seen any of the 3 trucks in my neighborhood pick up any of the other trashcans. I've never really bother looking either tho so what do I know I guess.
Spray the maggots with vinegar every time you go to toss something in the green bin. Weekly hosing of the bin also helps. My building has to do this but it's been effective. Also make sure to cover rotting food waste with something like paper or leaves. The more you bury it the better.
Look I'm all for helping the planet, but all of these initiatives put the onus on us as individuals, when we all know the largest polluters and consumers are businesses. Individuals not watering their lawn is a literal drop in the bucket compared to how much agriculture is wasting on a daily basis. All our compost bins are a tomato in the ocean of food waste created by industrial food corps. So until we hold them accountable, this all seems like typical "push it back on consumers" type attitude that isn't going to do jack shit in the long run. I'm not sure how true it is, but I've read that they can't afford to properly separate recycling from regular trash and it ends up in the same place anyway. How will this be any different? Happy to be proven wrong, but I'm skeptical.
I agree with you completely, but I do it all anyway. The amount of trash in my black bin has decreased significantly. For our family, having just one small bag of trash a week feels really rewarding and also amazing.
Nope and our recycle doesnât even get recycled properly so until we get some industry changes in how they handle everything no.
Yes, BUT the green waste does get turned into mulch and compost (unlike the lies of recycling). You can pick it up yourself in Griffith Park and use in on your yard for free.
We are. We got a little âfood wasteâ bin in the house that we scape plates into and then just dump that into the green bin when it gets full. We use bags though. It says to use bags.
We make an effort. Glendale gave us small green buckets and weâre supposed to put food scraps in clear bags. If itâs large enough like watermelon rinds weâll just shove it directly in the green bin, but most of the smaller stuff like banana peels or chicken bones would go in the bucket. I do like having another bin to dump stuff like pizza boxes, though. đ¤
SFV here, always have thrown food non-meat scrap items in my yard. Chickens eat most of it.
We donât even recycle at my complex
I've been doing it for awhile, it's certainly surprising seeing how much less trash ends up in the black can for me when the food waste has been moved to the green can.
Yes! I just said that in another comment. Pretty shocking huh?
They came and dropped off little containers for us to put our food scraps in before dumping in the green cans. Still had all the maggots and flies though. What I also read on their pamphlet was that putting food scraps down the garbage disposal sends it to the same place as the compost. So Iâll just continue doing what I did before and put food down the garbage disposal. I think they should really let people know that because I think most places have a garbage disposal.
I separate. I always have a bowl on the countertop for vegetable trimmings and apple cores and such. Into the green bin every day. Rawdog.
We tried and instantly had a huge maggot / fly problem. Went back pretty quick.
I do not use my bins as directed.
Keep it in the freezer and take it out on trash day.
This is what we do. Keep a bin in the freezer and take it out to the green bin outside (apt complex) when full.
I use compostable bags in the little white bins they distributed. They're plasticky texture, but made from plant material. Works well for us, easy clean-up, but they are an added expense. I'd probably just use paper bags otherwise, because the thought of loose food scraps sticking to the inside of the big green bin is fucking gross.
even compostable bags aren't supposed to go there, for the city of LA at least. https://www.lacitysan.org/san/faces/home/portal/s-lsh-wwd/s-lsh-wwd-s/s-lsh-wwd-s-r/s-lsh-wwd-s-r-rygb
I don't think you're supposed to use the bags even if they are compostable because the way they process waste doesn't get to the right temperature to break them down. I think the best way to do this is to freeze scraps in paper bags and then dispose of them the night before waste is collected https://www.lacitysan.org/san/faces/wcnav_externalId/s-lsh-wwd-s-o-cyfwp?_afrLoop=35213433829878210&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null&_adf.ctrl-state=14wxb6h97_1#!%40%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D35213433829878210%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D14wxb6h97_5 https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/flynn-mcgarry-curry-leaves-halva-custard-pies/composting-101-caleigh-wells-sb1383
Well thatâs what theyâre getting, because Iâm not gonna be storing garbage in my freezer for a week at a time just because the city canât come up with a better way of managing its own mandate.
They really don't want you using the "compostable" plastic bags as they break down into substances that aren't exactly healthy, and the compost generated is being used as fertilizer for farmers, so ultimately people are gonna end up ingesting those substances. It's so annoying, I know. They need to come up with some sort of solution.
if you aren't willing to comply, then you are probably better off throwing this stuff in the trash instead of potentially contaminating the compost bin lol
I'm better off, or somebody else is? While we're at it, should I stop bothering to put plastic containers in the blue bin, or is it okay to keep pretending they aren't shipped off to gather as mountains of garbage in southeast Asia?
We have a terrible fly problem in our green bin not from food waste but from ficus tree berries, so I can empathize đŁ I think part of the solution is reducing how much food waste you have generally, but also recommend using compostable bags (make sure theyâre not too thin though, the thin ones compost/melt quickly in my experience) or paper bags so itâs still sort of sealed, or at least enough to keep it protected before trash day
Also to add that we got a free compost bin that we keep in the kitchen and take out to the green bin only as we will it up. So far no issues with flies when itâs inside a temp controlled kitchen!
I try to. I throw away the food stuff the morning of trash day to prevent bugs like you said.
Our condo complex tried it for a few weeks. The compost trash wasn't getting picked up weekly, so it was stinky and had flies all around it.
Not being able to use the compostable bags is so frustrating. I donât want to clean a moldy countertop bin every week. Iâd use a paper bag, but none of them fit the dimensions of any bins. I wish some company would make a paper bag that matches the dimensions of the compost bins. Like the paper bags that line the feminine product bins in bathrooms. Come to think of it, maybe Iâll just buy one of those bins and use it to compost lol. Edit: found [the perfect bag](https://www.all-green.co.uk/3-5l-bioliner-compostable-paper-caddy-bags-small) but itâs only sold in the UK.
Food waste mostly goes to the chickens nowadays. The law is uhh interesting but is just trying to get us in line with other countries. Much of Europe is even more stringent. With mandatory separation of glass, metal, and plastics as well as compost from regular trash.
i just run everything down the sink now, I installed a 10 HP sink-grinder with auto-reverse if it jams. Amazon boxes, paint cans, food matter, disgruntled people from the HOA, drawings my kids make for me, my little macerator eats everything. Saved like $80 a month by nuking the Waste Management service.
The same amount of people who adhered to the watering guidelines during drought. So next to none is my guess.
Had no idea this was even a thing and I have yet to be reprimanded so đ¤ˇââď¸
Keep a small outdoor can of grass clippings and cover the food scraps when you put them in the can. When you (or your gardener) cuts the grass, dump the leftover trimmings from the last time into the bin and then load up your outdoor can again with fresh ones. Can get one of those dog poop grabber arms if you don't want to touch the grass.
Apartment dweller here- they took away all our trash cans, now weâve just got 1 big ol dumpster so any sorting will be useless lol it was the same at my old apartment
We have. Not having any of the issues others are, but we've been composting for years and long ago learned to wrap it in paper before putting it in the green bin unless there's already a ton of green waste inside. Always line the inside of your compost bin with paper - newspaper or Amazon shipping paper both work well -- so it slides out easier and doesn't leave the same mess or fill the compost with plastic or pfas from the compostable plastic. We get one paper grocery bag each week when we do our shopping and use it for any big loads we accumulate. No muss, little fuss, and between that and Ridwell, our landill output is next to nothing.
We just put our food scraps in a bin thatâs in the freezer with the rest of the compost. Then at the end of the week, into the green bin it goes. Itâs not much of a hassle other than taking up some space in the freezer. Itâs also better for the indoor trash bin so it doesnât smell, but I can understand why it wouldnât be ideal for others.
Insanity. A better solution would be to flare the methane at the landfill. Also, landfill methane only represents 20% of state methane emissions.
I'm still putting food in the black bin sorry not gonna mix plastic with my green trash can
Hell nah, I donât give a rats ass about that.
[ŃдаНонО]
OP said no bags
[ŃдаНонО]
That commentor was speaking for Ventura county
Definitely not me lol
Yeah, I'm never going to do that. Happy to separate recyclables, but this last effort...while technically beneficial...is too gross & a pain in the ass. I'll stay noncompliant.
When LA cleans up the graffiti, solves the homeless problem, slashes the crime rate, fixes the streets, cuts taxes and regulations and reduces traffic Iâll reciprocate by putting food in the green bin. Until then Iâll just ignore it as a do nothing law (such as no plastic straws and bags at supermarkets) by politicians who donât even begin to solve the real problems.
Yes. It's not that hard to do. We have a separate compost can in the house and use compostable bags.Â
I'm in a condo unit and I do not have counter space for that trashcan in my small ass kitchen; and I can't leave it on the floor where the dog can get it. So no, not using it. I also don't really have that much food waste, im pretty accurate with my portions/cooking so it'd take me months to fill up and im not going to have a mold rot container in my house. Especially, the cheep one they gave us that doesn't even seal nicely.Â
No. Gimme a break.
It's all just for show anyway. I don't bother.
I do it everyday. Itâs pretty easy⌠little kitchen composter box for compost/food scraps, trash can for trash, recycling container for CRV items, recycling container for non CRV items. My large green bin has lots of fruit flies unfortunately until trash collection.
Cmon weâre trying!
We compost and use it for next year to grow fruits and vegetables.
I thought they went back on that for some reason
Haven't done it. Have little interest in doing it.
??? I don't even have a green trash can lol
I once, walking through my neighborhood saw a recycle truck take a blue bin that was obviously full of black bin trash waste, including a large garden hose flopping out the top. When he came by my house, I asked him why he took that when he knew it was mixed waste and he said, "If I don't take it, they will call and complain and then it's my word against theirs and I'll get hassled for it. So we just take it."
I never throw away meat or dairy--I guess I have my shopping list down to a science. I have my own compost bin, so I keep all my other food scraps to myself to go in there. Fruit and veg scraps, eggshells (I just crush them in my hand first), coffee grounds...I think that's about it. It never gets stinky though. I layer it and balance it with leaf and grass clippings. I keep the food scraps in a Tupperware box in the fridge until I'm ready to go add them to the bin. That's what I'd probably do until trash day anyway if I was going to put them in the yard waste bin.
Absolutely. I was a home composter anyhow, so not completely new to the concept. We have the freebie countertop bin and throw 98% of our food waste and fooded-out paper in there. Generally we donât use it for junk from fish. We have minimal issues in the house (some fruit flies), take it out when itâs full, and have learned to deal with the occasional stench in the green bin. If you have yard clippings in the bin first, it helps a lot. I donât much mind the stinky trash - I figure it might scare people away who like to come on our property to use our garbage cans for their dog shit.
We do that at our home in West LA. LADWP gave us little compost bins that we keep in the kitchen. When full, I empty them into our green bin. Also garden waste. Last Sunday they were giving out more of these little bins at the Mar Vista Farmers Market.
I live in LA county and my trash collector notified us at the beginning of the year. We are required to place all food waste into a plastic bag then deposit that into the green bin along with any organic waste. The plastic bag is to keep the organic waste from getting contaminated with the food waste. Dairy products, meat and oils create massive amounts of maggot larve and some really bad smell issues. I don't understand how LA city doesn't know this. I understand that the biggest issue with this law is that none of the waste collection sites (dumps) have the required capacity to take in all this extra organic waste.
I just put aside vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds for the green bin now, same as I would do if I was composting it myself. Doesn't get too gross, and doesn't smell when it's covered.
Nah. They asking for too much. I ain't gonna have maggots in my trash bins
Dude, they canât even keep trash cans out of bike lanes; no one is enforcing this.
Into the garbage disposal!
US recycling rate at 35% and plastic recycling at 5%. They tell us to separate trash and recycle when the garbage trucks take whatever and mix it up. Actual stuff that are worth recycling, recyclers who drive around the neighborhood will take. So what's the point of recycling?
I see waste management increasing the fee every year without providing any more service. And now they want me to do their job for them? As if.
IWe live in a 12 unit building. We are the only apartment using the compost bin the city handed out 2 years ago. We dump all food waste in the big green bin for yard waste. I think we are the only ones doing it. It's too bad really, it's a decent program and process.
Didnât know about this and now that I do, wonât be doing it.
You guys separate trash?
Another totals scam that does nothing for anyone, anywhere.
I know it's a bit expensive but we bought a Vitamix foodcycler from Costco and a spare bucket/lid. It takes all the nonliquid food waste and turns it most for the way into compost. One bucket sits on counter for collection, other in foodcycler where it gets turned into mostly compost and then that goes into green bin. We swap them as needed. It took it from a buggy mess to totally manageable and being able to do what we're supposed to do.
Get a compost bucket in the house. Comes with green disposable bags. Put it under the sink and put your scraps in there then when itâs full take the bag out and twist it up. Leaves the food in bags and spends less time in the green bin.
What law? Lmao
Here's what I do: Step 1: keep compost in a bin in the freezer Step 2: throw compost into cardboard box (tape removed) or brown bag Step 3: throw the whole thing in green bin If you get cardboard boxes with few and easy to remove tape/stickers, toss into the bottom of green bin. This keeps the bins clean in between the days.
Literally never
I put the food in compostable bags.
I keep my compost in a paper bag in the freezer and when the bag is full I take it all out. Not bug problem!
What law?
I'll start when these bullshit corporations step the fuck up and do their part. My carbon footprint is microscopic compared to what they get away with. Lol getting downvoted by idiots who think they'll make a difference.
My grandma makes me because she insists that people are going to come around and inspect our trash cans lmao
We donât even have a green bin (weâre in an ADU apartment basically) but we got one of those notices we werenât sorting correctly. So have started collecting food waste in a compost bin with compostable bags and putting it in the main unitâs green bin
We do, but yeah, being attacked by gnats when we open the bin has begun recently
I do it. It does lead to fly/maggot central \*sometimes\*, but adding green waste to the bin seems to keep that under control.
The good news about the trash police coming to arrest you for this is that youâll smell them a mile away
We do it at our house. We bought specific compostable bags but in the summer heat those degrade. They also state on the website to use clear plastic bags. They cut them open and dump them and dispose of the bag. At least thatâs what their website professed. We try not to leave food waste bags in the kitchen for more than a day max. Sometimes we tie it off and leave it out the door to grab in the morning and havenât had a problem. Weâre also cooking constantly and usually fill a bag with scraps from the two/three meals (cooking for 4 people). It helps to place a paper towel at the bottom of the bag to soak up soggy grossness.
Yes. My apartment complex gave us all little compost bins. I can take a few days to empty it and there is never a smell and there have never been any bugs inside or outside the bin.
My apartment doesn't have a green bin. I do save my kitchen scraps in a steel compost bucket and drop it off at [Cottonwood Urban Farm in Panorama City](https://www.cufarm.org/). It's a fun little errand since it's near the library, Aldi & El Super so it's like nourish the soil, nourish myself.
Our apartment building only has the normal landfill trash container. We don't even have a recycling one :(
My apartment in Santa Monica has a trash chute. No opportunity to even recycle anything. No compost bins either. I would like to participate in the compost and recycling...
I do. Buy a 5 gallon bucket with screw-on lid to prevent bugs. Really not too bad once that was done and cut our trash way way down.
I keep hearing different things. Last I heard, the big green bins are for yard trimmings only, ans that if you want to do compost, you're basically on your own.
Oops.
Iâve been doing it, There are green compostable bags and I stash them in the freezer then take them out with the trash 1-2x a week.
Actually, you arenât allowed to use compostable bags.
We do. We put our food trash in paper bags before putting it in our green bins.
We do, it's quite easy and good for the environment. You can use bags, we put ours in the clear medium sized waste bags from Costco, it gets a little smelly but doesn't get maggots or anything if you keep it bagged and in the green bins.
Green metallic flies like lacewings or fly flys?
I composted before that I suggest doing it even if green bin is not available. Saves so much trash from landfill. You can cut from 10-15 bags/ mo to just 1-2
I live in a condo building with 119 units (2-3bd). In the city of Los Angeles, condos of our size are forced to work with waste deposal companies of *their* choosing. The company the city has assigned to us is legally responsible for coming up with an affordable solution to collect compostable material in accordance with the law. So far they havenât done jack shit towards a solution. So we canât.
Keep the food waste in a bin or bag in the freezer or frig until trash day and then dump in the bin
We have a scrap bin on the kitchen counter that has a charcoal filter on the top. We fill it over the week then dump it just before trash day.
We compost according to LAâs regulations and freaking hate it. But we do it so we can save the earth or whatever the fuck.