I’m on the board of my condo building, and I’m a little frustrated at the small amount of apartment mates contributing to our citywide bin- 3 of 150- so I was given the job of putting up a notice.

I had some problems researching- mainly, finding out public opinion. I looked at SF’s Recycle program flier, and it’s good- and in 3 languages- but didn’t address some of the potential questions or resistance to contributing to city programs.

I asked FriendFeed this question: if you don’t compost, why? These are the answers:

2%
– Thought I was selling something
– Composting was too confusing
– Can barely throw out the trash
– Doubt it really works- thinks it’s a city conspiracy for more kickbacks

4%
– What is composting? Never heard of it.
– Anti-compost. It just is a bad idea.
– Dogs eat it.

6%
– Too big of a mess/ too smelly in yard/apt.

8%
– Apartment too small
– Lazy

10%
– Didn’t really read question- extolled the virtues and benefits of composting

12%
– No yard

So many misconceptions!

1) Composting does not require a yard in large, green cities. It just means separating your trash.
2) It’s actually lazier to separate, since I now only go to the trash once a MONTH. My trash is no longer smelly, it’s just full of non-recyclable, non-compost things (basically, plastic filmy bags!)
3) It takes up the space of 2 yoghurt containers, and I cook a lot at home. It’s next to my trash.

As to the “dogs eat my trash,” I have nothing to say. The conspiracy bit? No response, I will never convince you. The rule of thumb with compost is that if you smell methane, you’re doing it wrong. You need to turn it and add more sawdust or other kinds of mellow dirt. But I don’t advise most of these people to start a compost heap- if you’re interested, great, otherwise, just contribute to one.

Link to FriendFeed discussion: If you don’t compost, why?.