Sustainability & Environment

Trench composting is the laziest legitimate composting method out there — and that’s meant as praise. You dig a hole in your garden, dump your kitchen scraps in, cover them with soil, and walk away. Six months later your soil is better. No pile to turn, no thermometer, no carbon-to-nitrogen ratio worries. Here’s how to…

Apartment dwellers, urban renters, condo residents — composting is harder for you, but it’s not impossible. The yard-less options range from simple (drop-off at a community garden) to involved (a worm bin under your kitchen sink). Here’s how to figure out which combination works for your situation.

Setting effective sustainability goals requires more than aspirational statements — it requires baseline measurement, appropriate frameworks, specific metrics, multi-year roadmaps, and continuous tracking. This guide walks foodservice operators and other businesses through the complete process from initial baseline assessment through mature multi-year sustainability program.

Greenwashing is when a company makes environmental claims that don’t match what’s actually happening. The patterns are recognizable once you know what to look for. Here’s the rundown of the common tactics and how to evaluate any sustainability claim with reasonable confidence.

Compostable foodware ends up in landfill in most US cities because most US cities don’t have industrial composting infrastructure. The reasons aren’t simple — it’s a chicken-and-egg problem involving capital costs, hauler economics, regulatory frameworks, and political will. Here’s what’s actually going on.

Spring brunches — Easter, Mother’s Day, baby showers, the first warm Saturday — usually want a centerpiece. Most centerpieces involve flown-in flowers, single-use props, and after-event waste. Here are sustainable alternatives that look better, cost less, and don’t end up in landfill on Sunday night.

Travel toiletries represent specific zero-waste challenge. The TSA’s 3-1-1 rule (3.4oz/100ml liquid containers, one quart-size bag per traveler) constrains liquid choices. Hotel disposable toiletries and conventional travel-size products generate substantial waste. Conventional travel toiletries often involve single-use plastic at every level — disposable razors, single-use moisturizer packets, individually-wrapped cotton swabs, miniature shampoo bottles. The zero-waste…

Yes, you can compost bamboo toothbrushes — but only after addressing one critical step that the marketing rarely emphasizes clearly. The bamboo handle decomposes well in industrial composting facilities and adequately in active home composting. The bristles, however, are usually nylon (specifically nylon-6 or nylon-4 in most bamboo toothbrushes) and are NOT compostable in any…

The simplest answer: aim for 2-3 parts browns to 1 part greens by volume, mix as you add materials, adjust based on what you observe. The longer answer involves understanding C:N (carbon-to-nitrogen) ratios that drive composting microbiology, recognizing specific feedstock characteristics across browns and greens, troubleshooting unbalanced piles through smell and decomposition observation, adapting practice…

No — biodegradable and compostable are not the same. The terms are often used interchangeably in marketing materials but they describe substantially different things. Compostable products meet specific certified standards for breakdown into nutrient-rich soil amendment under specific composting conditions within specific timeframes. Biodegradable is a much broader and looser term covering anything that eventually…

Pine needles occupy peculiar position in compost discussion. They’re abundant in many regions (substantial fall drop from coniferous trees in suburbs and rural areas alike), they’re widely available free, they’re rich in carbon serving as quality brown feedstock — and they’re surrounded by persistent myths suggesting they shouldn’t be composted. The actual situation is more…

Glass jars represent the practical foundation for plastic-free pantry storage in most households. Mason jars, repurposed pasta sauce jars, weck jars, and other glass containers handle dry goods, bulk shopping, leftovers, and pantry organization across the entire kitchen. The combination of zero ongoing material cost (jars repurposed from food packaging), excellent food contact safety, multi-decade…