Composting is easier than expected, Detroit project finds

State of play: The Detroit Community Composting Collective Project found enthusiastic demand for more composting resources in its new report.

• Participants said their belief that composting is time-consuming and inconvenient dropped after the pilot.
• This came after it ran a pilot program last year from September to November with 100 Detroit residents. They learned about backyard, local and commercial composting practices.

💭 Annalise's thought bubble: I've also found it's easier than I expected. My household happily composts with Detroit-based small business Scrap Soils.

• In my composting ignorance, I've been surprised to learn we can compost paper products and spoiled dinner leftovers including meat.
• Composting can, in general, be cheaper than one might assume. Scrap Soils charges $160 annually, and Metro Compost and Grow's online calculator offered me a similar service at $29 a month (about $348 annually).

Context: Composting in Detroit is decentralized, available through various pilot programs and small businesses.

The collective, made up of farms and advocacy groups, wants to see the city work with community groups already composting to invest in better citywide composting infrastructure and education.

• That includes passing an ordinance governing composting and changing zoning rules to make it easier for community-sized composting sites to operate in neighborhoods instead of only industrial areas.

What they're saying: "Detroit's unique landscape with its network of community gardens, urban farms, and strong grassroots leadership makes the city especially well-positioned to expand composting from neighborhood scale to citywide practice," KT Morelli, the collective's home composting educator, said in a news release.