 Welcome to In the Studio. I'm your host, Martha Teter, and my guest today is Jennifer Gilbert, our conservation coordinator in Davis. And we're in the midst of a new organics program. That's what we're going to be talking about. This is part two of Organics Recycling, some practical tips and tricks for making it work. Well, Jennifer, this is not the first time we've been talking. This is part two of a series that's part one and part two, one for part one, since it was in January. And you'll be able to see that show called Organics Recycling on DCTV directly. And you can also stream it on DCTV.davismedia.org. There were two other shows that are relevant to this that we've done recently on the studio. One was on Food Scrap Recycling, which is about recycling in the ground at home. I always encourage that too. I do it myself. And also on making the most of recycling. So you want to be able to look for those shows to see more of this good stuff in case you miss anything today. So today, as I said, we're going to be talking about the new program and some of the things that are different about it so that everybody can get used to it, maybe some solutions to problems that might come up. So the Organics program is geared around this new cart. And what goes in that cart, you can see on the graphic. And everybody will also be getting a flyer on that cart in the, actually delivered to their place of residence. So that tells us that Food Scraps, which are pretty clear that that would go in there, but also soiled paper, meat, cheese, which don't go in regular compost piles, and grass clippings, branches, yard waste, in other words, goes in here. Also, everybody is going to be getting a food scrap collection pan. And this will come with the flyer in it to the front door of residences. And it has that same graphic that you just saw, plus a handy-dandy schedule, because now yard waste is the first full week of every month, plus more in leaf drop season, right? Okay, great. So we want to just take a look now at what goes in this cart more directly. And so we're going to take a peek at this cart. This is the new food scrap cart. And first of all, the things that are different here, now the waxy containers go right in here. So your milk, your... Milk cartons, juice cartons, anything, any carton that you would find in the refrigerated section of a store can go in here. Yeah, even things like ice cream cartons. So ice cream, yeah, okay, great. And we also have things like coffee cups. So things that you get to take out. So any kind of take out food container, the drink cups, any kind of take out food container, even something like this can go in here for composting as well, yeah. If you're having a party in your backyard and you don't have enough reusable plates, you can go with paper plates and compost them afterwards along with your paper cups and paper napkins. Even things like Kleenex and paper towels, whether it's used or clean. Either one can go in here for composting as well. Okay, and small sticks in terms of yard waste, we mentioned about leaves and grass clippings. Yes. And those are going to be required to go in there first till it's full. And that's, why is it that grass and leaves need to go in here rather than when our once a month pot is? So that's a good question. So grass and leaves, they're small, they're lightweight. When the wind blows, they blow all over the place. Okay. They're in use since as far as that goes, but it also will blow down the storm drain inlets and cause problems with water quality that way. So we want to keep them off the street as much as possible. So they have to go into your cart. Unless your cart is full, then you can put them on the street. Okay. Great. Okay. So now we're going to look at some question issues that I know are going to come up for people. And one of those questions is, okay, I've got my milk carton and I've got my aseptic carton that I got my alternative milk in. Where are those going to go? So the way to think about it is remember where you bought it at the store. Okay. So you bought the carton at the store from the refrigerated section. It can be composted because it's nothing but a thin layer of plastic, paper and plastic. Right there. This carton was on the shelf of the store. It was not in the refrigerated area. It was just on a regular shelf. These are shelf-stable cartons. They actually have aluminum liners in them. And you could see that. We took one here and cut it open for you so you can take a look. You can see that shiny interior. That's the aluminum. And once you have the aluminum in there, it's really not acceptable for composting. So this will have to go into the trash. All right. So this is our trash table. This is our trash. Right there. This tiny little cart here. And so I wanted to mention that now you can get the tiny cart. And let's take a look at what's now can go in the tiny cart. So at this point, most of what folks are throwing away really should be either recyclable or compostable. There's very few things left. The few things that you're going to still see, some plastic bags. You can take them back to the store for recycling. Right. But if you can't because they're dirty or wet, you can put them in your garbage. Okay. Things like polystyrene foam that would need to still go into the trash. Chip bags. Pet waste. Pet waste needs to still go into garbage. We're not going to compost that. Okay. And it's just really that kind of thing like these little squeeze food packets. Baby food comes in. Yeah. Diapers would go in here still. Diapers and juice boxes. Juice boxes. Yeah. Again, like the shelf stable juice cart would go in here too. Yeah. So that's primarily what you're going to find in here. Okay. Here's another one that I always have questions about. So this is, these are both takeout containers. But this one is really light. That's because it's expanded polystyrene. Expanded polystyrene. Yeah. Okay. So this one, does that recycle? No. That one would have to go into the trash as well. Okay. So these foam kinds would have to go in here in the trash. But this one. That one is recyclable. That one can go in the container section. Yep. The cup, the lid and the straw can go right into the recycling bin. We can put it right in there. Yep. The whole thing. Just make sure it's empty. Okay. So this reminds me as I look at this one that my labels have come off. And sometimes it's hard for me to remember, you know. Which side is which? So what do I do about that? I call Davis Waste Removal. Okay. They can come out and relabel the carts. Because, you know, the carts have been out in the street now for 12 years. And the labels start peeling off. Okay. So it happens. So they'll call them and they'll relabel the cartons. Yep. And also I found out, in fact, I just changed mine. That I can change my cart to that small one. Just by calling Davis Waste Removal. Yes. And they'll send out the next time they come. They'll send out a smaller cart. Three sizes of the garbage carts are available. The 65 gallon, the 95 gallon and the 35 gallon. Great. And organics is the same. For anybody. There's three sizes of organics if you don't want the huge one. You can go with the smaller sizes as well. Okay. This one comes up around my house a lot. The cereal box. Yes. Okay. So now this is a wax paper lining, right? It's a plastic liner. So that would again have to be in the trash. This is not compostable. So this goes with film plastic. Yeah. And this one will go with our recycling, our paper recycling. Okay. Yes. So here is a freezer box. Yeah. Now what about a freezer box? It looks kind of waxy. Yeah. Some freezer boxes actually have a layer of plastic either on the inside or more commonly on the outside. And it's really hard to tell. Sometimes if you tear it, you can kind of see a layer of film plastic. Sometimes you can't. To be safe, you can just put it in your organic cart for composting. Okay. And that way, either way it'll be okay. Okay. So you can compost those. Yes. Definitely. The plastic bag that came inside. Yes. These are definitely compostable. They're not recyclable, but you can compost these. Right. So that they have, they look shiny. They have a little bit of plastic on them. That's okay. Yes. Okay. And here is a used food container. Yep. Compostable. Compostable. Okay. That goes here. Here's some cat food my cat wouldn't eat. So. Empty it out of the plastic bag and then you can compost it. Empty that out. And then the plastic bag would have to go into the trash. The plastic bag in the trash. Okay. So here's one that I often wonder about. Here's some paper. Here's a paper towel just slightly used. Kleenex or a tissue. Facial tissue. Brown paper bag. A regular old piece of paper. So how do I do these? Okay. So your brown paper bag. This is just a standard paper bag. It can be recycled. So this can go on your table over here. So this is my paper. Yes. And then your paper towels. The facial tissue. And then napkins. These would all be compostable. Whether or not they're clean or not. It doesn't matter if you have a wiper nose on them. Okay. Or whatever. So compostable. Okay. And these are all recyclable. Okay. So the mail and everything else. Now this is a special mail because this has this big envelope. This big opening in here. The windowed envelopes are still considered fine. Okay. No color problem. We're color blind here. We like to keep it simple. Yeah. So here's some lint from my dryer. That should probably go in the garbage. Because if it's only cotton fibers and you know it's only cotton fibers, you can compost it. Okay. But usually that's not the case. All right. So here's some chopsticks. I think you said chopsticks were recycled. Yes. Were compostable. Wooden chopsticks are compostable. Wooden chopsticks. Yes. Okay. So my wooden one goes here. And this one. The plastic one would go in my container. Yep. Okay. One last example is this. I'm always getting these things with a little bit of plastic on them. So what do I do? It goes in two sides. Yeah. So separate it first. Put the plastic in with recycling for plastics. And put the paper and recycling for paper. Yep. Okay. Cool. And that's good enough. Paper and plastic. Great. Okay. Now we're going to deal with some of our problem areas. The problem I've heard a lot is smell. Okay. So how do we deal with smell? So the first thing to remember about the smell is that we're already collecting this stuff every week. We're just putting it in this cart. So the only change is having customers take it from here and put it into a different cart. Okay. Material's not changing. Okay. So this, is this thing going to keep the odors pretty much in here? It will help, yes. Okay. The lid is vented so it has some air flow so it doesn't start to smell. Okay. But you're going to want to line it. Right. So, well, what I was playing around and I found that I could make a liner for this really cheap. Now, you can buy these three gallon compostable liners in here somewhere. But you can buy these three gallon compostable liners. But you can also make a liner very simply just find the open section of the paper where the fold is. You know, where it repeats and just fold it in in a triangle like this and stick it in your container. I already have one in here. Then, to make sure it doesn't leak, wax paper is great for composting. So just take the wax paper, fold it in half, fold it in half again and do the same kind of thing you did here. Make a little triangle out of it, a little funnel and stick it right in there. Brilliant. Yeah. That'll work. So that'll work. Keep it out. And for these cards, grab some newspaper or yard waste, put that at the bottom. Don't put your food scraps out until the collection. So that's another thing. Grab a pizza box, put the pizza box, those food scraps in a pizza box. Or in a milk carton. Yeah, or in your cereal box. Anything like that. Okay, great. So one last comment I've heard is about brush and that, you know, not being able to use a brush pile every week is going to be a problem. So, and also people are putting things out that are maybe, now they can be five feet, but if they go in this container, they have to be a little smaller. So over here is a sample brush thing I found on my neighbor's pile. And so what do I do with that? So this is already over the five feet limit because five feet's right about here. So even if you were putting this on the pile in the street, you'd have to clip it a little bit. But if to fit this in the cart, you've got to clip it even more. Because the lid has to stay closed. So one of the amazing things I've found is when I clip, I can get so much in. Oh, it's amazing that you can fit when you clip it. It's really amazing. And the other thing I've heard that some people, some neighbors are sharing these bins. If one doesn't have it a lot of brush one week, they might put it in their neighbors or getting an extra one. Yep, you can get extra ones. You can share with your neighbor. You can ask a landscaper to haul your material off. You can call Davis Waste Removal for a special pickup. And there's a ton of really great examples on the website, davisrecycling.org. And final suggestion is to go with your neighbors and get a chipper. And then you can take care of that waste. You can use them for mulch. So that's what I hear some people are doing. Well, this is really exciting. I'm hoping that this is really going to get us to the 75% waste diversion that we need. So I want to thank you so much for coming and for going over these special things about the collection program. Great, thank you very much. And thank you very much for watching. See you next time.