FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Tim Perkins preps plant-based food for his company P2F Meals, he has a separate trash can – not for recycling plastic or glass, but for food waste.
He has tons of scraps that can’t be eaten, like onion peels and zucchini ends. Perkins takes all of it to Mario Battistini, who composts outside of his Fort Myers condo.
The word ‘condo’ should be enough of an indicator that you don’t need much space to compost at home. Around Southwest Florida, people are also composting on a bigger scale, which could help save the earth and protect our water quality.
Food waste not only increases food insecurity, but it also contributes to problems like climate change, experts said.
A new report from the UN Environment Programme found about 17 percent of global food production may go wasted. Most of it comes from homes while another big chunk comes from the foodservice industry.
That’s why a few months ago, Perkins started trying to get smarter with his scraps.
“So we’re trying to use as few processed products as we can. From there, it’s all organic matter that we’re utilizing. It kind of got me interested in sustainability,” Perkins said.
Through his network of friends and clients, he connected with Battistini, who’s been on a personal journey surrounding health and fitness. His goals led him to research and teach himself how to compost.
“It’s completing the circle. We eat and then we feed the plants and the plants feed us back again,” he said.
Compost is organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. According to the EPA, making compost keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
To do it, you mix that organic matter or “green matter” with “brown matter” like soil, mulch or other compostable scraps like cardboard and paper towels. Then, add water.
Green is stuff that’s alive — it provides nitrogen. The brown materials provide carbon. The combination helps break down the organic matter and the finished product is a dark, nutrient-rich material that serves as a natural fertilizer.
“Then you feed that into the plants and voila, you have the plants growing, very simple,” Battistini said.
Battistini uses both a rotating composter and a larger device called the Home BioGas.
At a home in Naples, a couple is running a service called Naples Compost. They go all around Lee and Collier counties, picking up food waste from homes and businesses.
“I would say we have between 65 and 70 clients. We have a couple farms and stuff with manure and that actually makes the soil really healthy too,” said co-owner Amanda Rauktys.
Once they have all that green matter, they mix it with brown. Picture giant piles in the back of their yard. Co-owner Joe Rauktys uses a rake to turn it once or twice a week, which helps provide aeration.
“If it doesn’t aerate, the microorganisms inside will die and they won’t help break down all the products,” said Joe.
As he turns the piles around, fruits, eggshells, and scraps of compostable material can be seen. Once most of the big pieces break down, they sift it out to the compost pile. Some of that final product goes back to their customers who pay them to pick up scraps. It’s also sold to the public.
“It’s way better than any fertilizer you can buy. That’s another thing we are trying to get into is promoting using this instead of buying fertilizer for your plants. This is a healthy alternative to your chemical fertilizer,” Joe said.
Scientists have found that chemicals can fuel harmful algae blooms like red tide, which is one reason Perkins wanted to compost.
“So we’re not going to create this overproduction of nitrogen and we’re not going to be introducing that into our waterways,” he said.
While water quality is a big focus locally, the benefits of recycling food waste stretch way beyond Southwest Florida. Keeping as much stuff out of landfills could help slow down the clock on climate change.
“If you’re just throwing the food waste into your regular garbage can and that goes to a dump, there isn’t enough stuff there to help it break down and decompose. So essentially the gasses that are being emitted from that actually hurt our ozone and our planet. By composting it actually eliminates those gasses and we’re still putting nutrients back into the earth,” Amanda said.
Naples Compost said one thing that can hold people back from doing this at home is the smell.
“If you smell something, you’re not doing it right,” Amanda said.
She and Joe said they can help teach people how to compost at home.
“It’s nothing to be scared of, it’s really easy. We love to help educate on it,” Amanda said.
It’s advised to do research before composting and learn the dos and don’ts. Unless you have a lot of space, it’s recommended to avoid breaking down meat and dairy.
“The heat won’t be there, the microorganisms won’t be there,” Joe said.
But just like Battistini, you can teach yourself to do it, simply by starting a pile away from your home if you have the space, using small containers, or buying composters online.
“It’s very eye-opening how much trash you can save a day. It’s as simple as instead of putting my food in the trash can I just have one more trash can so it’s just like recycling in your house,” Perkins said.
For more information on how to compost, click here.
You can also reach out to Naples Compost to request a demonstration or learn more. They’re working on teaching their process in schools or to large groups.
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