Composting: Not Just for Hippies Anymore!

When you were growing up, did you know any of your parents' friends who composted in their own back yard? You probably saw a giant barrel filled with lord knows what and thought, "Riiiight....." (a la Dr. Evil). But, get this, we live in a neighborhood in Denver that has a city-run composting program. We just went online and requested a new can, which was delivered right to our door, along with a mini-compost bin to keep inside. Ok, yes, it is a little much having 3 giant trash cans (one for trash, one for recycling, and one for compost) outside our garage. But, it's awesome feeling like we're doing one more thing to help the earth. And you can't believe how much used-to-be-trash we now composte! Food scraps, teabags, paper towels, greasy pizza boxes, etc. It's good to see.

So, now, true to form, I keep two baby trash cans in each room in the house: one for trash, one for composting. The Kleenex alone that I go through in a week is enough to fill a composte can!

Now, I had a friend who stayed with me for a couple of months. I'll call her Tea, for the fact that I've never known anyone who drinks as much of it as she does. When she first came to stay, I explained to her (totally NON-anal-retentively, I'm certain) about how we now composte. But one day, I noticed her throwing a tea bag in the garbage. Remember the scene in "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" when he walks into the room filled with animal heads and has a full-on meltdown? I think my reaction was slightly less manic than that. So, the good news is, that's the last time she threw away a tea bag!

So, if you don't have this fancy program in your neighborhood, you can still composte. There are lots of places to get bins, and they aren't nearly as gross as they used to be. It just takes some getting used to. Oh, and Tea? She's a convert now! :-)