A grassroots effort in Door County built a network of composting sites across the peninsula, creating a system that gives residents places to drop off their food scraps within just a few miles of their homes. Jeff Lutsey, the executive director of Climate Change Coalition of Door County, established one of the first sites on his family farm a few years back.
Before leading the group he was an environmental advocate volunteering for an effort to make composting more accessible. He said creating a community composting system for Door County came with unique challenges.聽鈥淲e鈥檙e long and spread out, and we鈥檙e far away from any landfill,鈥� Lutsey said. 鈥淪o we kind of need a different system than anybody else has.鈥�
Because of the county鈥檚 geography, it鈥檚 not a good candidate for traditional composting pick-up programs, which often require residents and restaurants to pay a fee. But because the Door County community is small enough, and because many residents are nature-lovers who are motivated to compost themselves, it was a good candidate for a community compositing drop-off program, Lutsey said.