Composting
Why compost?
We're composting as a waste management strategy. It allows us to use up material that otherwise would go to a landfill.
Composting system at the Green Garage
Food scraps can go into our composting bucket on the kitchen counter. All vegetable and fruit products are allowed as long as they are not covered in a sauce or oil. No meat products can be composted. Coffee grounds (including filter) and spent tea leaves (teabag and all) can go into our composting bucket. We have a food scrap composting/holding container in the backyard next to our compost pile. It looks like a trash can but it's dedicated to food waste so please don't throw garbage in it! For our twigs, leaves, weeds, and other garden wastes, we have a compost pile in the backyard.
We have started a worm composting (vermicomposting) bin in our greenhouse. Our worm population is very small so please don't overfeed them. If you can see pieces of food in the bin, that means the worms already have enough to eat.
Paper towels from our restrooms are being collected and composted separately by Motor City Brewing Works. They are then taken to a compost pile in Palmer Park, where they are mixed with spent grains from Motor City's brewing process and with manure from the park's horses (in addition to other organic materials). You will notice a white receptacle under the sink(s) in each restroom. Only paper towels that have been used to dry clean hands can be composted! Please do not put anything else (exceptions below) in the white receptacle under the sink.
We are also composting the "compostable" paper cups and their "compostable" plastic lids along with our paper towels at Motor City Brewing Works. See the image gallery below for examples of these types of cups. If you have any of these types of cups and lids to compost, please empty out any liquids and place them in the blue bin with the blue lid in the annex recycling center.
Gallery
Compost pail in the kitchen.
Worm composting in the greenhouse.
Dan measuring the temperature of the compost pile in Palmer Park.
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