RAVENSWOOD — Is composting the new recycling?
The City Council is already weighing an ordinance that would expand the materials Chicago's community gardens and urban farms are allowed to compost. And now Ravenswood is poised to join Andersonville as the latest North Side neighborhood to undertake a community-wide composting program.
The program will receive its official launch at Thursday's Greener Ravenswood event, the Ravenswood Community Council's annual spotlight on green businesses in the neighborhood and fundraiser for green initiatives.
Ross Outten, owner of Dolce Casa cafe and the council's board president, has been leading the composting charge after attending a meeting with his fellow restaurant owners several years ago.
"It was all local restaurants saying, 'Look we have tons of food waste, but no space,'" Outten recalled.
The council's green committee began investigating its options: Things like fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and grass clippings could all be collected — preferably via bicycle — composted at a central location in the neighborhood, and then reused by residents as a healthy, home-grown soil enhancer.
At least that was the idea.
"We spent a lot of time looking at the logistics of 'Where can it be done?'" Outten said. "That was always the white elephant — finding space in the neighborhood to put scraps."
After comparing notes with folks in Andersonville, who send their compostables to a facility on the South Side, Ravenswood decided to "not let the perfect be the enemy of the good," Outten said.
"The biggest thing was learning we didn't have to wait, we can start right now," he said. "Why not plug into an existing system? It's still out of the waste stream."
Beginning in July, Ravenswood will launch its program with an initial focus on collecting scraps, via van, from participating restaurants, which will immediately provide scale. The scraps will then be taken to a composter in Pilsen.
"We'll start with a few weeks of getting the restaurants set, to get them comfortable with the routine, and then we'll go to block clubs and community gardens," he said.
Individual residences will be the "last spoke," Outten said. "It's going to be a learning process for us as we grow."
"There's going to have to be an education piece," added Gene Wagendorf of the council and the Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.
Just as there's a right and wrong way to recycle, people will have to be familiarized with proper composting practices, Wagendorf said.
Some of the biggest concerns about composting — that it smells and attracts rodents — typically are the result of doing it incorrectly, he said.
Monday raised by the Greener Ravenswood event will help build the program's infrastructure, either subsidizing pick-up for new members, producing education materials or sponsoring collection points.
Outten's hope is that if the program catches on — and he's thinking long-term here, four or five years down the road — Ravenswood will be able to revisit the concept of keeping its compost in the neighborhood, for the neighborhood.
"The environment is in people's broad consciousness. Things like oil consumption, you don't think you can make an impact. Composting is one of a number of practical solutions," Outten said. "I think it's a very tangible thing people can get their heads around."
Tickets are still available for Greener Ravenswood, 5-9 p.m. Thursday at Beyond Design, 4515 N. Ravenswood Ave. Cost is $35 for council and chamber members and $45 for non-members. Admission includes craft beer and spirits, bites from local chefs and green product demos.
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