Don’t Stop There

The local Christmas tree recycling program has become increasingly successful over the past few years. There has been a lot of publicity in the media and widespread voluntary participation to help turn these old trees into valuable mulch.

My only question is, why limit the efforts to Christmas trees for only a few weeks of the year? Studies have shown that up to 25% of our landfill space is being used year-round for grass clippings, leaves, shrub and tree trimmings or other organic wastes. To continue the current practice of throwing away such an important resource beyond any possible retrieval is, I feel, a disgrace and a sin. All this material has the potential to be transformed from a liability into an asset.

Nature abhors waste. In nature’s design, the death of an individual does not mean the cessation of a beneficial role in the continuing ecology. Those dead plant cells are quickly consumed and broken down, and the resulting by-product provides essential bedding for the healthy growth of new generations. That’s the way it’s been happening since the beginning of time.

What I would like to see is each local neighborhood with its own cooperative organic recycling dump where all such waste could be buried. If the facility was laid out in a circular pattern with administration and maintenance buildings at the hub, each day could see 1 degree of the surrounding wheel excavated and then refilled with organic wastes. After one year (and 360 degrees) the old wastes would be dug up, producing a valuable soil amendment as well as providing space for incoming wastes.

Such a non-centralized operation might even pay for itself through the sale of organic compost and the conservation of ever more valuable space at conventional landfills. Income might also be realized if sewage sludge was accommodated into the system.

To encourage greater participation, maybe contributors of fresh materials could be entitled to finished compost in exchange. But, even without incentives, the success of the Christmas tree program shows us that people are ready to cooperate if they are given the opportunity.

Let’s expand this new tradition of conservation and take some large strides toward keeping our world a beautiful place.

RUSSELL D. SPENCER

Vista