The Great Backyard Composting Challenge is off and running. More than 100 households registered interest in this citizen-science project; we used a modified lottery to select the lucky 60 from Buena Vista, Lexington, and Rockbridge County. Two-thirds are families with children.
During the 3-month project each household will record and report the weight of food waste diverted from the landfill to their project-issued backyard composter. State grants secured by the City of Lexington and Clean Valley Council make this pilot project possible.
What are participants most looking forward to? Here’s a sampler from our pre-project survey:
- Spending time with my kids and producing rich compost for our garden.
- Seeing how much we can avoid putting in the landfill and seeing how food scraps turn into compost.
- Helping the Earth and doing it as a family!
- Getting rid of that icky/soul-crushing feeling that occurs when I throw food scraps into a trash bag. I'm very excited to divert them to the compost!
- Getting to learn and spend time with my dad.
- Seeing how much impact we can all have as a community when we all do an individual part
For those of you who were not able to participate in the study, all is not lost. We’re keeping a list of folks who want to be alerted if Boxerwood makes a second bulk order of Earth Machines. There are currently 50 people on that list, but the more the merrier (and cheaper). Click HERE if you would also like to register your interest. Plans are not yet definite, but we’re hopeful.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST