If you live in Culver City, you have two options to properly dispose of your food waste. It is integral that you do not throw your food scraps in the landfill as organic waste rots in landfills and produces methane, a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 28-34 times stronger than that of carbon dioxide.
1. Utilize Your Green Bins
If you are a resident of Culver City that lives in a single-family home, you should have a green bin. It was formerly know as the "yard waste" bin, but as of 2019, it is now an all encompassing "organics" bin. You can put any organic material, such as food scraps, that would rot or decompose in your green bin. Upon waste collection day, your organic waste gets transported to an industrial composting facility, where it then is transformed into usable compost for the city.
What you might not know, you can put any soiled cardboard or paper products (like paper towels, napkins, or grease-stained pizza boxes) in your green bin that would not be fit for recycling due to their condition. Even better, our green bins are unique in that they accept meat, bones, and dairy, all of which are not usually accepted through city composting.
A complete list of what can go in your green bin:
Food scraps and soiled papers:
Veggies
Meats, seafood
Dairy products
Breads, grains, pastas
Fruits, vegetables
Bones, shells
Pizza boxes, waxed cartons
Napkins, paper towels
Paper based to-go containers
Yard trimmings:
Flower cuttings
Garden trimmings
Lawn clippings
Leaves
Prunings
Shubbery
Tree twigs (4 feet or less in length & 6 inches in diameter)
Weeds
Wood chips
Check out Culver City's Public Works page for a few videos and more information.
Tips:
Have a small container with a lid in your kitchen to collect your household food scraps. You can even line it with a paper or wax bag that can be easily decomposed so that you can place the bag directly in your green bin.
If you are away for awhile and are worried about the smell of a small container in your kitchen, you can freeze your food scraps in the container. When you are ready to take out your kitchen scraps, just place the frozen scraps in your green bin as usual.
2. Start a Backyard Compost
Backyard composting is a simple and inexpensive way to create nutrient rich soil for your garden! Unlike using your green bin, with backyard composting you can take part in the hands-on process of food decomposition and physically make ready-to-use compost.
Check out this great article by FoodCycler that gives a brief overview, pros/cons, and costs for each composting method. Starting a compost pile in your backyard can be completely free depending on which method you choose! The most simple method is the pile method, and you can even create an enclosure out of wooden pallets. This is a great way to reuse materials that you can find for free. Here's a great video explaining how to build a pallet enclosure:
If you enjoy hands-on learning, LA County's Sanitation Department holds free in-person workshops and sells compost bins for only $20.
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