Kudos to Takeout 25 for introducing composting in Oak Park restaurants, which generate a huge amount of food-derived waste. Residents on the village’s municipal waste contract already have this service available with Oak Park’s optional Compostable program. For a small monthly fee, organic waste is picked up just like trash and recyclables. Eligible items include many that cannot be composted in a backyard operation, such as bones, produce pits and skin, coffee grounds and filters, and food-soiled paper towel and cardboard, not to mention all yard waste. (As a neighbor told me, “I can’t believe all the stuff I can compost!”)
Composting diverts organic waste from landfills and cuts the climate-heating methane emissions that result from bagged organic matter rotting fast without exposure to oxygen. And it avoids the energy use, sink clogs, and burden to water purification systems that come with sink disposal.
Currently only about 25% of eligible Oak Park households take advantage of the Compostable program, but that number needs to grow to help Oak Park meet our goal of reducing emissions that are heating our planet beyond livability.
Condo owners and renters can also compost even if they’re not eligible for the village program, by contracting with a service like WasteNot, which collects and processes organic waste. The modest cost drops further as more households participate. By bringing composting to your building, your neighbors can collectively do their part to fight climate change while helping return nutrients to the soil that nourishes us all.
Composting is a small lifestyle shift with big benefits for the planet, and everyone can do it.
Wendy Greenhouse, Oak Park