It’s time for another annual report on the Co-op’s composting program. 

Item 1. In 2015, 76,594 pounds of vegetable and food scraps were diverted from “somewhere” — well, specifically, Weavers Way Co-op to the composting project at W.B. Saul High School. 

That figure omits 206 pounds of non-compostables picked out of the total collection of 76,800 pounds — by hand. There is no mechanized way to remove rubber bands, twist ties, plastic bags, plastic labels that say “organic,” (irony here), plastic clamshells (still filled with fresh herbs) and diapers, at least one a month, fortunately (?) infant, not adult.

Twenty-seven hundredths of a percent is a good number. We should brag, although the goal, at least mine, is 0.00 percent stuff that doesn’t belong in there. But I would be happy if we could just keep out that monthly diaper.

Item 2. We saw a 28 percent increase in compostables diverted from Weavers Way since the program began in 2012. That’s good. 

Item 3. One hundred percent of the compostables collected from the Co-op, when composted, ended up on the fields of Henry Got Crops. Actually, this is impossible to prove because we mix the WW compostables with compostables from other sources, but you get the idea. This is good, too.

Item 4. Henry Got Compost has a lot of great partners. Weavers Way started the program, and now we partner with Bennett Compost, Earth Bread & Brewery, Bar Hygge (EB&B owners’ new outpost in Fairmount), Philly Fair Trade Coffee, the Philadelphia Zoo, the Philadelphia Marathon, the Broad Street Run, the Science Carnival and many others. I’m not at liberty to announce this at press time, but by next press time we may be able to announce that we are becoming the official composters of a local professional baseball team. This is very good. 

Item 5. In total, 1,002 tons of compostables were diverted from “somewhere” to Henry Got Compost in 2015 — barn poo, Zoo poo, brewers’ grain, coffee grounds, Bennett Compost collections and many, many more. At Henry Got Compost, we do know where our “somewhere” is. All of the compost produced goes back to where it came from, the Earth — gardens and fields, yards and planters, compost tea and raised beds, all over the city and counties surrounding us. Back to the fields at Saul, back to the flower beds at the Zoo and to the new Penn Park on the University of Pennsylvania campus, to the herb beds on the roof at Earth Bread + Brewery and vacant lots in West Philadelphia. 

It’s all good.

A Brief Essay on Sustainability

Henry Got Compost was contacted by a large local company that features the word “sustainable” on their website and their mission statement. The website sports the recycling symbol and “aggressive companywide composting” is promised there as well.

The contact came from a very nice lady who asked a few questions: Are kids involved? What do we do with our finished compost? Do we have a website? She asked for our address, which I gave her, along with directions, thinking they were coming for a visit or making arrangements to have compostables dropped off. Then she asked, “Is there always someone there to receive UPS packages?” A curious question but maybe, I thought, they were sending us some T-shirts or a flat-screen TV for the compost office. Then she said, “We are going to UPS you our compostables every week.” That wasn’t where I thought this was going. I was speechless, actually stammering. And no, we’re not doing this company’s composting, but it did make me think. Maybe we could negotiate a special compostable rate with UPS or FedEx, even DHL or the USPS. We could send all this compostable material “somewhere.”

No, the definition of “sustainability” does not include “somewhere.” Everyone should know where “somewhere” is.

A Brief Essay on Yard Waste

Yo, Philadelphians: When you put your paper bags of yard waste out on the curb, if it’s not November or December, they’re just going “somewhere,” not getting recycled or composted. 

Or, as the Streets Department puts it: “During most of the year, yard waste may be commingled with trash and set out for combined collection. No separate yard waste collection is provided by Sanitation. Yard waste set out for collection will be picked up with rubbish and not recycled.”

You are welcome to take your yard waste to a Streets Department “Convenience Center.” The closest Convenience Center for most Weavers Way members is probably Domino Lane. Inconveniently, they only collect yard waste there on Saturdays. Other days, you can drop it off, but it will be commingled and sent “somewhere” with the trash.