For almost two years, it was a covert operation. I quietly spirited away used coffee grounds from our office coffee machine and uploaded them to the compost bin at my condo complex. Then, a little over a year ago "the envirogods" (a.k.a. me) introduced an organic waste pail in the lunch room. After a careful marketing and education campaign, the pail now fills almost weekly. And the coffee grounds keep coming. And it all gets diverted from landfill.
How much waste diversion are we talking here? I weighed a batch this week before dumping it in the composter: the total over four days was 2.963 kg, or 0.741 kg/day. Assuming 250 work days in a year, that's 185 kg of organic waste
not hitting the landfill annually.
The bottom line?
(a) Taking garbage home from the office makes me, arguably, more of an envirodork than an envirogod.
(b) Being careful with my waste at home (population=2) is a good start. Introducing responsible waste management at the office (population=75) is
progress. Today, the office. Tomorrow, THE WORLD!