I was happy to read the article on the progress of food-waste composting in our county.
The logistics and cost remain a blockage to overcome. It would be amazing to have food-waste composting an option in our community. I do agree that home-scale composting is one of our best options. Many people could benefit from better education on how to do it correctly and efficiently. I offer a word of caution. Too frequently commercially-processed compost is full of trash and plastics.
My fear is if we did develop this composting mechanism, we would end up with a tainted product that is not healthy to apply to our landscapes. The current compost coming from our county is a great example; it is full of plastics and is toxic from sewage that is added to it. It is good for nothing. I know people who have gotten sick from applying it.
How do we develop a new food-waste composting process that is clean and plastic-free? That is the real question to answer before we build the facility. Our county has so much room for growth around litter, trash contamination and cleanliness. People need to rise to the challenge and improve our standards.
Steve Baker
Port Townsend
