By Dean Thompson
My dog loves it when I take my food scraps out to the compost bin in the backyard. As soon as he sees me grab it from under the sink, he races ahead of me and waits by the door. When I head outside, he bounds over to the fence to first see if the neighbors’ dogs need to be reprimanded and barked at, then heads directly to the compost bin. As I approach, he stares intently at me, eagerly waiting for me to remove the lid. He doesn’t get to eat any of the old produce remains I’ll be dumping in there, but instead, he is waiting for me to stir the pile around to see if any mice come scurrying out. If they do, he’s on them in a flash, trying to nab them before they escape into the boards and rubble piled around the bin.
If he does indeed catch the mouse, he’ll walk around with it for a while in his mouth, the little tail sticking out between his whiskered lips. No doubt he’s harkening back to his ancestral urges and enjoying the mouth feel of the little warm furry body in his jaws. Eventually, after licking his mouse-pop for a while, he’ll slowly consume it, eyes slightly closed, savoring the delicate crunchy insides. I know there are some of you cringing right now, but from my perspective as a naturalist, waste not want not. Besides, it seems like a nice treat for him. Not so much for the mouse though.
But hey, the mice get their treats too, as it’s quite the banquet in my compost pile. Banna peels, peach pits, avocado rinds, carrot tops, squash ends, apple cores, coffee grounds, tea leaves, and much more are added to the pile, along with dead leaves from my trees. It’s not hot compost, and it takes a while for the red worms (little protein snacks for the mice) and other microbes to break everything down. It’s quite the little ecosystem in there. I find springtails, millipedes, tiny centipedes, and even larger animals like legless lizards and moles that sometimes feast in there. I’ve put wire mesh around the bin, but to no avail; the little rodents always find their way in. At least the opossums, raccoons, and rats are excluded, though. Eventually, over time, it all breaks down, and twice a year, I can collect a couple of wheelbarrow loads of great soil for our garden.
In our county, we also have green waste bins for disposing of food waste. Most of my bones and eggshells end up there, along with any greasy napkins, chicken bones, citrus rinds, and curdled or moldy dairy products, as these items don’t work well in backyard setups. All that material, along with any yard waste, is taken to a facility operated by Kanadevia Inova, which features a remarkable Anaerobic Digester.
Once at the A.D., the organics are ground up and fed into a monstrous, slanted tube, where they are mixed with FOG (fats, oils, and grease collected from local restaurants). It’s kept at a constant temperature of 131° and slowly mixed to a slurry with the consistency of runny oatmeal. It’s a perfect habitat for bacteria to break down organic matter and produce methane gas (I guess you could call it bacterial farts). They use that gas to generate electricity. Their “waste” product is compost. The whole digester process, start-to-finish, takes about 2 weeks. The compost is then dried, cured, and screened, for a few more weeks, then finally sold to local vineyards, farms, and orchards! Plus, twice a year, they give tons of compost away to the community. Anyone who shows up with a bucket, truck, or trailer can haul away as much as they like, for free*.
So, instead of taking all that organic waste and dumping it in the landfill, where it takes up space, doesn’t decompose, creates greenhouse gases, and doesn’t even help other living things, we’re instead getting energy and compost. That just seems sensible. It’s an efficient use of our natural resources and a great addition to our community. It’s another excellent example of technology helping us to move into a smarter, greener future.
*This Saturday, September 5 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. the Fall Compost give-away will happen at the SLO anaerobic digester! Located at 4300 Old Santa Fe Road in SLO. It’s a free event for the public to pick up some organic certified compost. Just bring a pickup truck or a trailer, or a car with buckets. Please make sure to bring a tarp to cover the load when you leave the compound.
Dean Thompson is a naturalist and storyteller who has worked as an educator and field biologist for the past 42 years, primarily in the Estero Bay area. His writings, titled “Ruminations of a Naturalist”, can also be found on Substack.
