Changes are coming to how we  manage our organic waste. Two Los Angeles Times articles (here and here) help spell out why.  

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council is taking the lead on a more environmentally-friendly approach to managing food and other organic waste. In November 2021, the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Governing Board approved a Neighborhood Purpose Grant of nearly $5,000 to bring a compost drop-off site to the Silver Lake Farmers Market on Saturdays beginning at the end of January 2022. The compost drop-off location will be run by LA Compost, a non-profit organization, during the market's hours on Saturdays. The grant will help fund one staff person, equipment, and other costs of running the drop-off location. There will be volunteer opportunities to help out at this location, so please look out for volunteer shift sign-ups on the LA Compost website. 

The Silver Lake Farmers Market drop-off site will collect the following green waste items:

Senate Bill (SB) 1383, which went into effect January 1, 2022, requires residents and businesses to recycle food waste and other organic waste such as lawn clippings, garden trimmings, and leaves to reduce methane production, which is a major contributor of greenhouse emissions. Californians waste nearly 6 million tons of food per year, and that food waste makes up 18% of the waste in our landfills. LA Compost has a number of drop-off locations, and Compostable LA provides compost pick-up service for a fee.

To learn more about community composting, check out this article.

The City of LA is still figuring out how to implement SB 1383, so public-private partnerships such as the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's support of local composting is an interesting model for other neighborhood councils to consider and possibly emulate. And don’t forget the action guide on reducing food waste in the City’s Green New Deal Neighborhood Council toolkit, at ncsa.la/resources_green_new_deal_toolkit.

LA Sanitation & Environment now has some FAQs on the subject—check out lacitysan.org/organics.

Updated January 13, 2022