For as long as I can remember, my family and most of our neighbors have been composting all of our biodegradable waste, so one can understand why I was a little taken aback when I read that a company had applied for a state grant to do it as a "municipal service."
The first thing that caught my eye was the statement made in the program summary by Watervliet Mayor Michael Manning: "Food composting ...will come eventually to New York."
This might be surprising to Mayor Manning, but the use of degraded biological matter as plant fertilizer has been part of New England life since the discovery of the New World by European powers and, even before that, with the composting methods of the Native Americans. I would invite him to ask some of the residents of his town if they compost for themselves, as well; there is no doubt in my mind that many do.
One large composting facility that uses automated equipment and just ends up contributing more greenhouse gases to the environment is far less beneficial to the immediate community than smaller home-based composting endeavors. Unlike a large facility, a home-composting system can provide the homeowner with fertilizer for the garden — for free.
And for those who refuse to do it because of the expense or the work, there are methods that cost nothing and take no more effort than weeding a flower bed.
Sean Willie
East Nassau