c

o
m
p
o
s
t
T
o

c
u
t

t
r
a
s
h
S
o
u
t
h
w
e
s
t

r
e
s
i
d
e
n
t
s

n
d

t
h
e
y

r
e
d
u
c
e
w
a
ste by adding composting
BY LAURA PROSSER
The counters are clear of junk paper, and the
plastic odds and ends that litter a typical house are
nowhere to be found. The recycling is organized by
type in the recycling bin, and a jar of bottle caps sit
by the sink waiting for the next deposit at Aveda
Salon. Where a trash can full of garbage should
stand hangs a single Target bag of waste.
The reason for the clutter-free, organized house of
Sarah Sponheim not easy with three teenage boys
is the small compost bin sitting on a counter.
Sponheims house, one stop on the June 28 Tour
de Compost through the East Calhoun neighbor-
hood, is a perfect example of what composting can
do to help center a home. As Sponheim pointed out
little tips for reducing waste to fellow members of
Minneapolis Waste Watchers during the tour, she
said her biggest helps stood on the counter and
resided in her backyard.
Leading the charge into the back, Sponheim
pointed to the far corner of her yard. Thick, thriving
plants and owers and dark, rich soil obscured the
view of two open bins in the back composting
bins. Barely visible despite their size, they blend in
with the garden. Aside from her green thumb, they
and the nutrient-rich soil they create are the reason
her garden is so rich in appearance.
It costs nothing to start a compost pile in your
backyard. You just need space, said Felicity Britton,
executive director of Linden Hills Power & Light, the
neighborhood-based environmental nonprot.
In 2010, Minneapolis started a two-year pilot
of curbside composting in the Linden Hills, East
Calhoun and Hiawatha neighborhoods. The city
provides a green, 65-gallon organics cart and
weekly pickup for free.
Organic waste is taken to an Empire Township
composting site where it is turned into nutrient-
rich soil. Linden Hills alone prevents ve tons of
municipal waste from going to the Minneapolis
SEE COMPOST // B9
Section B | Southwest Journal | July 25August 7, 2011
HOME
IMPROVEMENT
GUIDE
Your dream. Our expertise.
For your lifestyle.
remodeling design renovation
612.861.0188 SylvestreConstruction.com
License #1428
Find us on Facebook
Sylvestre Construction SWJ 022111 6.indd 1 2/8/11 4:04 PM
S
A
L
E
O
F
T
H
E
SE
A
SO
N
!
A
U
G
U
S
T

1

-
3
1
SW JOURNAL 1/6p July 2011
ads@mnpubs.com
6 1 2 - 8 2 2 - 4 7 6 9
5 3 5 3 NI COL L E T AVE S O, MP L S
t a n g l e t own g a r d e n s . c o m
t he absolute ur ban gar den cent er exper i ence. t he absolute ur ban gar den cent er exper i ence.
CONTACT US TODAY TO TURN YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY
952.697.5075
www.Woodstone-Renovation.com info@Woodstone-Renovation.com
3745 Monterey Drive St. Louis Park, MN 55416 Lic.#20638985
Woodstone Renovation SWJ 072511 6.indd 1 7/18/11 4:28 PM
July 25August 7, 2011 | southwestjournal.com | Focus B9
B9
Home Improvement Guide
HIG
incinerator, simply by composting.
The only things that cant be
composted are broken glass rubber,
latex and dirty foil, Britton said. You
take out recycling and at the end of the
week, for a family of four, you can have
less than a Target bag of trash.
Since joining the citys curbside
composting program, Sponheim and her
family traded in their 94-gallon garbage
cart for a much smaller 22-gallon cart,
cutting down their monthly disposal fee.
I think the big green composting cart
next to a small black cart really sends a
message, Sponheim said.
Minneapolis waste goes to the
Hennepin Energy Recovery Center
(HERC) incinerator, rather than the
landll. Britton said the system is set up
to create electricity and energy while it
disposes of leftover products.
When [the HERC] has wet food waste
in there it doesnt burn well, and it takes
more energy to burn the waste than the
system is creating, Britton said. By taking
the compost out of the burner and putting
it back into the recycling system you
reduce the need for synthetic pesticide and
fertilizers with the creation of top soil and
increase the efciency of the incinerator.
The soil created through composting
is higher in nutrients and is often used in
gardens and farms and by landscapers as
a natural fertilizer and nutrient enhancer,
Britton added.
A carrot from 20 years ago had more
nutrients because the soil had more nutri-
ents, she said. By composting you are
completing a natural cycle and returning
nutrients to the soil.
Added Sponheim: You are converting
material that has grown from the soil
back into soil, returning organic material
and completing the lifecycle.
Sponheims was just one of four houses
visited during the Tour de Compost.
People compost for many reasons in
many different ways.
Like Sponheim, Kate Sanderson and
her family also have both a backyard
composting bin and the citys green bin.
Inside the house, Sanderson has a coun-
tertop compost container, and two small
bins for recycling and garbage. Their
backyard system consists of a tumbler bin
that turns, so once waste is placed inside,
sifting it isnt necessary.
When we just had the black bin and
[saw] the amount of stuff [we] put into it,
its kind of scary how much [trash] you
produce every week, Sanderson said.
Its nice to think we can bring that down.
The compost breaks down to incredibly
small amounts.
Instead of a trash bag, Kathy Scoggin and
her family ll a compost bag once a week.
Scoggin puts food scraps into Tupper-
ware, freezes them until trash day and
then does a last minute dump.
There is no regular garbage in her
kitchen. Instead its halfway down her
basement steps, and the recycling is out
the back door. Theres a black stand-up
compost bin in her backyard. Compost is
shoveled out through a hatch in the bottom.
I am concerned with trash, Scoggin
said. I like the idea that I can turn
compost into my own soil for my own
gardening uses.
Ive done it since I was a hippie in the
70s thats probably the real reason,
she added.
Rebekah Leonhart and her family have
two recycling bins from the city and two
open compost bins in the backyard for
vegetables and fruits.
Im trying to use less, Leonhart said.
Composting seems like a way for less
stuff to end up in landlls and to be reused
and made into new things. I do it to save
resources because they are really limited.
Stop Trashing the Climate, a report
prepared by the Institute for Local Self-Reli-
ance, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alter-
natives and Eco-Cycle, puts the importance
of composting into perspective.
The reports authors write that, in one
year, the U.S. disposes of 170 million tons
of municipal solid waste such as papers,
metals, plastic and food scraps in landlls
and incinerators. For each ton of munic-
ipal waste, 71 tons of waste is created in
the rening, fashioning and destruction of
resources into a product that will simply
be burned or buried.
We only have one planet, we only
have finite resources, Britton said.
Why waste them?
PHOTO BY BRE MCGEE
Anna Sanderson, 6, demonstrates how her family composts each week.
COMPOST // FROM B1