RACC Virtual Seminar Series Recording: “Capturing the Resource Value of Food Scraps: Composting and Beyond”

The June 2022 webinar in Rockbridge Area Conservation Council’s seminar/webinar series discusses how to deal with leftover food scraps/residue in an eco-friendly way…just in time for all our summer garden trimmings. Food scraps, composting and more were discussed by a panel during the RACC webinar on Wednesday, June 15.

How food scraps are managed is a choice for many households in our area. When leftover food is put in the trash and delivered to the local landfill, it decomposes and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that adversely affects our climate. However, if food scraps are aerobically composted, it is converted to helpful microbes. These microbes can increase organic content in soils, thereby increasing the soils’ water-holding capacity and helping to cool our local climate.

Rockbridge residents have several options to compost locally, including household scale composting, vermicomposting (earthworm castings) and participating in neighborhood compost collection that is delivered to a professional farmer who builds thermal compost piles. All these options (and more) will be discussed by our panelists!

Attendees were encouraged to share their own methods for diverting household food waste/residue from the landfill and capturing its resource value for other purposes.

Panelists include Phyllis Fevrier, Peggy Dyson-Cobb, Lauren McCaughrin, and Eli Fishpaw.