Pursuant to Yesterday's Earth Day Post...

I am the proud owner of a fancy schmancy new composting bin, courtesy of Costco.

It even has legs, so Mister Lawyer cannot fuss about his pristine lawn getting mucked about with.

Hopefully I'll be able to set it up tomorrow. This is pretty exciting for me; probably more exciting than it should be. I will report back with more details as things progress.

We have been using the garbage disposal more than the trash can, my reasoning being that organic matter that is decimated and soggy is more likely to break down than organic matter trapped in a landfill. But from what I have read, that's simply not good enough.

I found this argument for composting being the best alternative of the three choices:

A garbage disposal grinds food you put in the sink and sends it into the septic tank or sewer system. It adds extra volume to your septic tank; if you are connected to your city's sewer, it puts more pressure on that system, making sewage treatment more costly. Sewer systems are designed to process pre-digested material, not fresh kitchen scraps.

A garbage disposal uses about two gallons of water per minute — about 700 gallons a year with average use. That amount of water will make seven pots of tea a day or do six loads of laundry a month. Composting kitchen waste is the best alternative.

I can't wait to explain the process to the kids - I'm sure they will be amazed, even at this young age. I'm sure my garden will benefit from the results of our efforts and the amount of waste we produce will be decreased even further.

For those who are interested in starting to compost themselves, here is a composting primer that I've been perusing - lots of good information to be found at howtocompost.org.