terra non firma

west hollywood waste

some crazy conference of mayors going on right now in chicago chose seattle as the most livable city in the US. ok - whatever. but buried towards the end of the press release, weho gets its props for innovative recycling:

Mayor John Duran of West Hollywood, California won recognition in the small cities category for his city's innovative efforts to recycle restaurant food waste.

“In an effort to meet a California law mandating each city divert 50 percent of its solid waste from landfills, West Hollywood implemented an innovative program to recycle restaurant food waste,” the panel of judges said.

Restaurant food waste is sorted at the Athens Services yard and then transported to California Biomass in Victorville, where it is converted into composting material for citrus orchards, lettuce fields and other agricultural applications. Crops treated with the composted material require 30 percent less water and 30 percent less chemical fertilizer than other crops, and the compost helps decrease salinity in soils.

“Mayor Duran has a strong environmental ethic and this program has half of all restaurants citywide participating in the food waste recycling program – fully 80 percent of the waste generated by these restaurants is recycled," the judges said. "This is a proven effort to strive towards California’s ultimate goal of zero waste and deserves recognition.”

posted by marissa @ 10:43 AM