CURRENT PROJECT
Centralized composting
One of the biggest contributors to climate change is the greenhouse gas methane.
And a significant source of methane in our atmosphere is organic waste that gets sent to landfill instead of getting composted. (Think, the banana peel you threw in the trash.)
Oakland set an aggressive Zero Waste Goal in 2006 to improve composting rates, but rates actually haven’t increased in the past 5 years. Multifamily housing has the lowest rate, and lowest rate of increase, of composting than any other sector. With 37% of Oakland residents in multi-family housing, we see an opportunity here to fill the gaps and engage with a key part of the community.
For our first project, we’re taking a closer look at local composting rates in Oakland, and seeing where we might find new ways to improve them with insights from our community.
PHASE 1
Define the problem
Food waste is one of the top bananas in global emissions.
PHASE 2
Research and interviews
In the second project phase, we’re getting the dirt on people’s attitudes and behaviors around disposing of their food scraps and composting.
PHASES 3 - 4
Ideate and Prototype
We’re exploring various ideas to develop into prototypes, and finding some local multi-family housing building owners and managers to partner and test out our program.