Name: Dave P.
City: Mountain View
Why did you start composting?: To reduce the amount of garbage we send to the landfill.
How do you fit composting into your busy day?: We keep a stainless steel bucket under the kitchen sink so we only walk to the outdoor compost bin when it’s convenient (or needed) to empty the bucket.
What did you have to overcome to start composting, what kept you from starting sooner?: Finding a location for an outdoor compost bin.
What problems have you had to overcome to maintain your compost?: Keeping the fruit flies to a minimum. We do this by layering dry materials on top of wet (fresh) materials.
What unexpected things or events occurred because of your compost?: We occasionally find spotted salamanders in or near our compost so I tend to avoid turning it too often to avoid disturbing them.
What do you like best about composting?: We only fill half of a small city garbage container a week. And the compost shrinks dramatically – we keep adding to it but it takes a long time to get full.
What words of advice do you have for new composters?: Have some dry materials (grass or leaves) to sprinkle over your fresh compost (for an outdoor bin).
Would you recommend composting to your friends and family? Why or why not?: Yes, but to use an outdoor bin you need some space where a dog won’t get into it and anyone who sees it won’t mind it (we keep it behind some shrubs).
For how long have you been composting?: Off and on for over 10 years.
Do you have a compost bin or a worm bin or both?: We have two black plastic outdoor compost bins (but they mostly are cold and the compost appears to be eaten by worms).
Please describe your compost and your experience composting.: I mostly add things to the covered compost bin and spray a little water on each time. I really only mix it a little with a compost mixer a few times a year.
How does composting feel, sound, smell, look to you, your friends, your family?: It’s mostly hidden by a black plastic bin, and we tuck it partly out of sight from the street.
How often to do you add kitchen scraps and other material to your compost bin/pile?: We add material pretty much after every time we prepare fruit or vegetables, so 1 or 2 times a day.
What do you put in your compost?: Fruit and vegetable scraps. Coffee grounds. Leaves that are not too tough (avoiding magnolia leaves). Grass – sometimes fresh, sometimes after we let the clippings dry.
What do you not put in your compost and why not?: Meat, fat, oil, sauces, bread, paper, peach pits.
What do you do with the product of your compost?: I screen it to get out any uncomposted material and mix the compost into soil before planting a garden.
How much time per week to you spend maintaining your compost?: 5 minutes. Maybe 15 if you including adding scraps and dry material to it.
Do you have compost questions with which you would like help?: Have people found a good screening device (to get out the pits or wood chips).

Name: Page M
City: Mountain View
Why did you start composting?: To reduce the amount of stuff my family adds to the waste stream.
How do you fit composting into your busy day?: I have a worm bin and I add scraps to a container on the kitchen counter then feed the worms every few days. No sweat!
What did you have to overcome to start composting, what kept you from starting sooner?: I had some unsuccessful worm bins for a few years. I finally bought a commercial, stacking bin.
What problems have you had to overcome to maintain your compost?: Fruit flies in the kitchen.
Do different people in your household view the compost differently? If so, how?: Everyone feeds the kitchen container, but only mom feeds the worms.
What unexpected things or events occurred because of your compost?: I grew a mango tree in California that sprouted from a pit in the bin. Lots of interesting things sprout in there!
What do you like best about composting?: My citrus trees love the compost.
What do you like least about composting?: Fruit flies.
What words of advice do you have for new composters?: Stick with it. Given the right environment, the worms will go crazy.
Would you recommend composting to your friends and family? Why or why not?: Yes! It’s great for your garden.
For how long have you been composting?: 15 years.
Do you have a compost bin or a worm bin or both?: Worms.
Please describe your compost and your experience composting.: Worm bin on the side yard, transfer container in the kitchen.
How does composting feel, sound, smell, look to you, your friends, your family?: The kitchen scraps can get smelly. The bin isn’t smelly.
How often to do you add kitchen scraps and other material to your compost bin/pile?: Kitchen scraps every day.
What do you put in your compost?: Fruit/veg scraps, old bread, eggshells.
What do you not put in your compost and why not?: Bones, meat, eggs, fish. Not good for the compost.
What do you do with the product of your compost?: Put it on the fruit trees in the garden. I pour the leached liquid on the fruit trees as well.
How much time per week to you spend maintaining your compost?: 5 minutes.
What other question do you think we should ask that might help others better understand composting, help them compost and inspire folks to start composting?: Where did you get your worms/worm bin?

Name: Bruce
City: Mountain View
Why did you start composting?: We bid on an Earth Machine composter at a silent auction fundraiser.
How do you fit composting into your busy day?: We have an attractive red ceramic container (about 1/2 gallon) sitting on the kitchen counter. Our 2-person household fills this 2-3 times/week.
What did you have to overcome to start composting, what kept you from starting sooner?: There weren’t many good spots in our yard for the composter.
What problems have you had to overcome to maintain your compost?: I had to lay down metal screening around the base to keep critters from tunneling into the compost
What’s a funny story about your compost?: Apparently tomato seeds aren’t sterilized in our composter. We had dozens of volunteer tomatoes in the spot where I spread the compost this spring.
What do you like best about composting?: The consciousness raising aspect of realizing that you can’t really throw anything away. There is no “away.”
What do you like least about composting?: The time required.
For how long have you been composting?: 2 years
Do you have a compost bin or a worm bin or both?: Compost bin
How often to do you add kitchen scraps and other material to your compost bin/pile?: 3 times per week
What do you put in your compost?: All kitchen scraps and stale food except meat and milk-based products, plus leaves.
What do you not put in your compost and why not?:
What do you do with the product of your compost?: I’ve used it to amend our garden, but we don’t generate as much compost as we use
How much time per week to you spend maintaining your compost?: 10 minutes
Do you have compost questions with which you would like help?: I’d like to know what the “avoided carbon footprint” is of composting 1 pound/week of food scraps.

Thanks to Jerry of Mountain View for starting our composting story telling.  Jerry started composting this year, in 2010.

How do you fit composting into your busy day?: I keep a kitchen compost collector by the sink; when it’s nearly full I take it out to the composter just outside the patio doors.
What did you have to overcome to start composting, what kept you from starting sooner?: I need an attractive composting unit; the big black ball from CostCo fit the bill perfectly.
What problems have you had to overcome to maintain your compost?: Every now and then I pick up some cut grass from the gardener when I need to heat it up a bit.
Do different people in your household view the compost differently? If so, how?: I’m a single guy living alone.
What unexpected things or events occurred because of your compost?: Apparently it’s sexy to some women; I get lots of appreciations.
What’s a funny story about your compost?: Hardly a knee slapper, but I’m always tickled that the composting ball never seems to fill up. Everytime I go out, the pile seems less than last time.
What do you like best about composting?: Just knowing that I’m not contributing to the growing pile of stink in the Bay area.
What words of advice do you have for new composters?: Once you start, you’ll be surprised at the extra things you can accommodate. I have an office shredder; a good complement to kitchen waste.
Would you recommend composting to your friends and family? Why or why not?: Absolutely. The big black ball makes it easy to do without messy piles. I have a small backyard in my townhouse, but it fits in nicely.
For how long have you been composting?: Did it a lot back in 1970-1980, but not since then.
Do you have a compost bin or a worm bin or both?: Just a compost bin.
Please describe your compost and your experience composting.: Mostly kitchen waste and waste paper.
How does composting feel, sound, smell, look to you, your friends, your family?: There’s no smell unless you get really close; and then it just smells sweet.
How often to do you add kitchen scraps and other material to your compost bin/pile?: 2 or 3 times a week.
What do you put in your compost?: Kitchen waste, tea grounds, shredded paper.
What do you do with the product of your compost?: Just spread it on the ground and turn it in.
How much time per week to you spend maintaining your compost?: Maybe 10 minutes

Kids who visited the Beat Climate Chaos booth at local events drew the pictures below to represent their ideas and stories about how to beat climate chaos. They drew the pictures using crayons made from soybeans on 100% post consumer recycled paper.

Jeevika B of Cupertino pictures closing the recycling loop by using products made from the material you recycle.

“Mom!  The recycle bin is made out of recycled material!”

Christiane N of Cupertino pictures paths to recycling:

Colin F of Sunnyvale drew this picture of his brother watering the garden and the worms popping up from the soil.