To the editor: The city of Los Angeles seems to be shooting itself in the foot regarding the composting problem (“Why your food scraps travel more than 100 miles — and how an L.A. council member wants to stop it,” June 24). Instead of looking to boost compost infrastructure, the city should be concentrating on how to collect more green waste.
While Los Angeles has provided green bins for residents to collect household food waste, the program has not worked as well as anticipated. Not only are those in single-family homes not using the bins enough, but many large apartment buildings are exempt from the green bins since they participate in recycLA. The more single-family houses are replaced by large apartments, the less food waste is collected and the landfills grow bigger.
By allowing for more and larger apartment complexes, the city is hindering its own food-waste goals. Imagine how much green waste could be collected from apartments throughout the city if green bins were placed next to the blue and black ones.
Since 2016, the state has mandated a gradual increase in the amount of organic waste diverted to landfills. By 2025, the city should have achieved that 75% waste be diverted from landfills, but it hasn’t.
I suggest that the city come up with a program to collect food/green waste from additional sources like apartments, businesses and any other buildings that generate food waste. That goal of 75% will not be reached anytime soon if the city cuts down on houses that use green bins and adds apartments that do not.
Mary Wiser, Van Nuys