Most people strive to minimize their carbon footprint because it’s the right thing to do, but state law also mandates that Californians sort and dispose of waste properly. Knowing where to put the newspaper you spilled your morning coffee on can be confounding, however. Does it go in the gray garbage bin and eventually become landfill? Or into the blue one, where it might be recycled? Nope. Wet, soiled paper belongs in the green bin, where it will break down along with the yard and food waste to become compost.
The City of Sonoma has created a website to help residents do their part to improve the environment and follow state law. Called “Sort It Sonoma!” it decodes the complex and sometimes counter-intuitive rules around garbage disposal, presenting the information with easy-to-follow graphics and explanations.
There’s a quick guide to proper sorting, tips for reducing food waste, virtual workshops on composting at home, and answers to frequently asked questions. Getting it wrong is a high stakes affair: Miscategorized garbage often ends up in landfills, which emit the powerful greenhouse gas methane. By properly sorting and disposing of waste, residents can individually and collectively join the effort to slow climate change.
Sort it Sonoma! provides a printable quick guide for residents to keep handy, and a toolkit to help calculate how much garbage a household generates along with strategies for reducing output. Food waste is of particular concern, with 68 percent of it—or 42 million tons—ending up in landfills or combustion facilities, according to estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency. Sonoma’s website walks people through their composting options, and even demonstrates how to begin worm composting in small spaces.
Learn how to reduce your household’s output of trash, and exactly what to put in each bin at Sort it Sonoma! and zerowastesonoma.gov.
Sort-It-Sonoma-Flyer-FINAL.pdf
Contact Kate Williams at kate.williams@sonomanews.com
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