- Compost!

Hi, I'm Jamie.

- Hey, I'm Monique and we are Compostable.

- (cross-talk) We're Compostable LA.

(both laugh)

- That went really well.

- [Both] And we're Compostable LA.

- So, I just want to let everybody know

that we're both fully vaccinated.

We both got a COVID test and we're social distancing.

- Compostable LA was founded in 2019 by me

because there was really a lack of composting resources

here in Los Angeles, and so I just saw a need

in my community that I decided to fill.

- Yeah, and I was just hustling.

(both laugh)

- Let me explain how it works. Super simple.

Basically, you get this bucket,

you put your food scraps in the bucket,

and then you put the top on, you leave it outside.

We come by, we pick it up and then we leave you

a new bucket.

It's really that simple.

- So when you get your bin,

you can put anything that was grown from the earth:

your carrot tops, your coffee grounds, your eggshells.

The things that you don't want to put in here are things

like produce stickers, staples, rubber bands,

anything that's non-organic.

In our bins, we even take meat and dairy and citrus

but some other bins can't handle that.

So after we pick up the compost from your house,

what we're going to do is bring it

to an urban farm here in Los Angeles

and then our nonprofit partners LA Compost take over

from there.

What they do is create almost like a lasagna

out of your food waste, so they're going to do a layer

of green materials, which is your food waste,

and then a layer of brown materials,

which is anything that's carbon-based like mulch or sawdust.

So once they're done layering,

for two months that pile will sit

and all this microbial activity will take place,

really heating things up.

The mix of that heat and the microbials eating

your food waste is really what breaks everything down.

It then moves into what we call a curing phase,

where a whole different set of microbes move in

and really finish that process to create

that beautiful compost material you can add to your garden.

- So twice a year, Compostable LA actually has farm days

where they invite members to come and like actually come

to the farm where the compost is being created,

and you can take some of that compost home with you

so that you could put it in your own garden

and grow your own food, which hopefully then you're going

to put in your bucket and return to us.

See, it's really important to like, be able

to close the loop.

I think that's like, what's kind of makes us really nice is

that you can see it from start to finish,

like really literally.

Actually I learned a couple of years ago that the smell has

a hormone that's released is the same one

that's released when mothers give birth,

which is really sweet.

Then you can actually bring it and put it right

into your garden as like an additive into your soil,

and that's going to be the food that the plants are going

to use to make their, make the food that we eat,

which is really cool.

I mean, it's food. People love food.

I love food, I hope everybody else loves food,

and if you don't, are you dead?

(Monique laughs)

- [Jamie] Ooh, womp womp. - [Monique] That's a long one.

- [Jamie] That's a long one.

- Side effects of composting may include

decreased levels of methane,

increased water filtration, soil regeneration,

less landfill reliance,

(in sped-up voice) stormwater pollution filtration,

reduction in soil erosion, carbon sequestration,

stress reduction on the power grid.

- (in sped-up voice) Higher nutrient content in food,

increased plant production, food sovereignty,

less nutrient leeching,

decreased reliance on chemical fertilizers,

community empowerment,

(normal voice) and did I mention happy planet?

(bell dings)

- If you want to learn more, check us out

at compostablela.com and we hope you start composting today,

whether that's at home or using a service.

You can see a whole list of services at litterless.com.

So maybe there's one in your area.

(laidback dance music)