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Hi, I'm Ellie!
Hi, I'm Ellie!
I am a senior at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and a Girl Scout Ambassador. I've been a Girl Scout since second grade, and through Girl Scouts I discovered my passion for sustainability and helping the environment. Composting is something my family has done for a while, and it became the topic of my Gold Award because I wanted to teach others how easy it can be to implement composting in their lives!
About My Project
About My Project
During COVID, my family started composting with a service that picked up buckets from our house every week. After they went out of business, we had trouble finding another composting service, and we didn't have room for a home composter. Unfortunately, the City of Dallas does not provide any sort of compost collection service like some cities do, so it is much harder to find ways to dispose of your organic waste sustainably. I wanted to do something about this. I started by collecting people's food waste for them in 5-gallon buckets. They would drop off full buckets every week or so, pick up an empty one, and I would take their food waste to a place called Recycle Revolution (more info about them on the next page). After consistently composting 14 families' food waste monthly for almost a year, I realized that this wasn't a sustainable project. It was certainly making a difference, but I wanted these families and others to learn how to do it themselves. Now I am spreading awareness about the importance of composting and teaching people how they can do it themselves! Thanks for learning!
Why Compost?
Why Compost?
When you think of compost, you probably imagine dirt, worms, and a very strong odor. Composting is the process of organic waste (anything that grows naturally: plants, animals, etc.) breaking down into a nutrient-rich substance that can go right back into the Earth. Composting is important because, typically, you throw your food waste in the trash and then it goes to a landfill. But since food waste is organic, it breaks down in the landfill, right? WRONG! Composting is an aerobic process, meaning that it requires oxygen. In a landfill, the organic stuff is covered by a whole lot of other trash, so it cannot fully decompose. As it is trying to break down, it actually releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. The more people that dispose of their food waste by composting, the healthier our environment could be!Â
The Facts
of food sent to landfills annually in the U.S.
of all U.S. produced food is wasted each year
of U.S. cities have composting services
We have to do what most governments are not doing: compost! Help me save the Earth by composting. Click to the next page to learn where you can compost.
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