What's more, Nova Scotia's composting facilities contained towering piles of compost � so much that it could not be composted fast enough. The materials have to be run once or twice through the composting steps as a result. And even then, no one wanted to buy the soil that resulted from it.

I can't see why there would be a problem with food waste composted. Millorganite fertilizer
https://www.milorganite.com/using-milorganite/what-is-milorganite
Has been sold in the US for years. I graduated in '71 and it was being sold then. Food waste compost is just one process short of this stuff. People put it on the lawn.

I don't think it's the process that's the problem I think it's the sheer volume of the stuff that's the issue. They can only compost so much and after that it has to sit till they get to it.


And as everyone knows, rotting food waste isn't exactly a pleasant item to deal with. So my guess would be that the cost of building large enough composting facilities to handle the vast amounts of the stuff would be prohibitive not to mention dangerous because of the methane buildup.

An example. We have a composting facility miles from us and across the harbour. Well a few years ago we started getting a rotten meat smell in our laundry. I changed everything in the laundry, put in a new P trap, changed light bulbs to CFL and washed the walls etc. As it turns out it wasn't my house at all it was the "composting" facility that was located miles away who weren't following the regulations when composting and had stored vast amounts of the stuff.

So you can see where people get pissed when these facilities allow rotting food waste to sit and until they can get a process to get rid of the stuff that's quick and safe it won't change.

A great idea but as per anything the gov't touches, piss poor execution.

There also might be a reason nobody wanted to buy the soil that resulted and it could have something to do with the fact that people don't like to be raped twice for something. Once when they take it away and once when it's turned into compost and sold back to you.

Give the soil away and people will take it but that still doesn't mitigate the problem of "piles of compost" that aren't being composted because the stuff smells, attracts rats and other vermin. So until they come up with a better method than rather than just mulching the stuff to make compost they're going to have to put it in the landfill otherwise they'll continue to have all the issues that come with recycling food waste.

You don’t pay to put out your organics, they take it from the curb with your garbage and recycling for free. And it sounds like they give it away for free too.

I don’t think “government” is the problem, nor that “anything the government touches has piss poor execution”. It seems like per anything that’s left up to individuals to do responsibly, the problem is too many shitheads out there who put things in the organics bin that don’t belong there, making sorting a gargantuan and costly task. The biggest part of the problem is still on the supply side though. We still produce way too much unnecessary waste and really need to start clamping down on that nonsense.

But it doesn’t sound like an unsolvable problem it just requires some novel ideas and some investment. I’ve long liked the idea of banning restaurants and grocery stores from throwing out perfectly good food. It’s always seemed ridiculous to me that 30 years after the advent of recycling, businesses are still allowed to put all their organics and recyclables in the trash if they wish.

BTW I just watched our recycler pick up our organics along with our garbage and promptly toss it in the same bin on the truck. So to think that it's just the consumer who's the problem is knieve.