The subject of how we create and dispose of trash has assumed an importance today that few might have imagined a few years ago. That’s why good planning and enlightened leadership is important, and that is what the citizens of Macon County are getting with their growing composting program.

Macon County, under the direction of recycling coordinator Stephen King, is composting up to 16 tons a day of waste. That is close to 20 percent of its total, waste that otherwise might end up in a costly, lined landfill cell. The cost of putting trash in today’s high-tech landfills varies, but in Macon County it costs about $59 per ton. Composting, on the other hand, costs about $5 per ton.

Add that cost to the savings of not filling up a landfill, and it becomes obvious why composting is such a good idea.

But before any program like this can succeed, it must have leadership willing to initiate change. Instead of spending such a large percentage of its financial resources on building landfills and hauling trash to it, local governments must be willing to invest money and time to do something different. That’s a necessary first step many are afraid to make.

King had to do a lot of legwork to get the Macon program going. Effective composting relies on a variety of ingredients. A farmer’s co-op provides lots of tomatoes for Macon. The Bi-Lo grocery store also works to separate all of its food waste before it goes to the landfill. The county health department works with King and the grocer to make sure that the waste kept on-site at the grocery store for two days is not causing any sanitary problems.

Right now, King is working with other grocers and the school system in an attempt to divert more organic waste from the landfill into the composting project. He is also encouraging restaurants to do the same, and he says he will work with any who wants help learning how to best set up a separation system.

There is something wonderfully simple about composting, about recycling the mounds of food and other organic waste we produce merely by diverting it from the landfill and putting it in piles with other waste to change form.

The truth is we are all going to have to continue finding better ways to dispose of our wastes. Those who begin work now to do that will end up saving their citizens a lot of money while doing something worthwhile. It seems a simple choice, and hopefully other local governments in Western North Carolina will get on board.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News