Ready, Set, Rot: San Francisco Makes Composting Mandatory

San Francisco has made it illegal to absentmindedly scrape leftover Chinese takeout in the regular old trash. Get caught with your sesame broccoli in the wrong bin and you could get fined. That鈥檚 how serious the City by the Bay is about attaining its goal of producing zero waste by 2020.

As of yesterday, all residents and businesses are legally required to discard food waste in a separate sealed compost bin that gets picked up by the city. San Fran follows Seattle in requiring households to recycle food scraps (Seattle鈥檚 policy became law last April). However, Seattle exempts businesses and apartment buildings. Frisco isn鈥檛 letting anyone off the hook. And so far, many of its residents seem happy to comply.

In fact, that the Organic Annex, where the city鈥檚 food waste is trucked, is already processing more than 500 tons per day.

What does the city do with all that rotting refuse? It turns it into what gardeners like to call 鈥渂lack gold鈥 for use on the region's farms and vineyards, which in turn supply residents with fresh produce and wine. Not a bad arrangement, if you ask me.

Want to get in on the act? You don鈥檛 have to wait for your city to pass a law. Start composting now. Find out how with 约炮视频 Magazine鈥檚 recipe for