Oh my gosh I got a food scrap on the lens look this was on the lens
hey everyone welcome back to my youtube channel if you haven't yet subscribed to my channel that is
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a thumbs up if you're excited to learn about composting and also to let me know that you want
to see more videos like this one thank you so much to Logitech for sponsoring today's video a little
bit later in the video I'm going to show you my MX anywhere 3 wireless computer mouse that I love
and now let's get into composting I shared on my Instagram a little bit about how I collect my food
scraps in my New York City apartment and it was very clear to me that there were a lot of people
out there that were interested in this topic and wanted to learn how to do it themselves if you're
not following me on Instagram already head over to at luciebfink for some more regular daily updates
about my life in New York City I share a lot of behind the scenes about what we're growing and
what we're doing here in our two-bedroom apartment in New York so I'd love to see you over on
Instagram I really want to preface this video by letting you know that I am not a composting expert
contrary to what many people might think I'm actually not 100% zero waste or 100% sustainable
I love learning more about sustainability I love incorporating many sustainable practices into my
life overall my goal is to become a more conscious consumer and to make small swaps that are actually
no pun intended sustainable for my long-term life in other words I'm still learning and I'm still
growing I'm not perfect at this but I really am trying if you are looking for a composting
expert you may want to stop this video and head over to another video but what you will get from
this video is just a regular person who has done a ton of her own research and who's really trying
to implement small changes and if you identify with that this could be great for you so first
and foremost what is compost compost is organic material that has been decomposed by being exposed
to air and water and it creates a nutrient-rich soil-like product that can then be used for things
like farming gardening and all kinds of growing when you compost your food scraps you're basically
taking that waste and turning it into a valuable resource that can then be used to create more good
and grow more things I've always loved science and chemistry I think the whole process of how food
decomposes and how compost is created and works is really cool but people are not just composting
because they think the scientific process is cool they're doing it because it's actually a
very important thing for us to be doing for the environment and now Michael is crossing over the
screen this is what happens when you shoot in the kitchen whenever we throw organic materials like
food waste into the trash it goes off to the landfill and a byproduct of that decomposition
process in the landfill leads to methane emissions in the air methane is a greenhouse gas that
contributes to climate change and landfills in general have contributed to loads of environmental
and health issues plus not even to mention there's the whole carbon footprint that comes along with
actually hauling that waste to the landfill in the first place so overall throwing your food waste
in the trash is just not the move so the two main ways a person can compost would either be through
backyard composting or commercial composting in backyard composting you are collecting your own
food scraps to create your own compost and then you actually oversee the composting process and
get to use that compost for personal reasons like growing and gardening and in commercial composting
you're just collecting all of your food scraps and all the compostable items and then bringing them
to a third-party facility that is going to compost for you and this commercial composting is what I
do in New York City so I'm not backyard composting I'm not actually creating my own compost
I am purely collecting my food scraps to bring it to a third-party location that will turn it into
compost so I am commercially composting composting commercially composting in a commercial way
creating a compost commercial in this video I'm not going to go too much into backyard composting
because as I mentioned I don't currently do it and there is a whole process associated with
it that I don't necessarily know much about it involves getting a bin getting a bunch of organic
materials together in some cases you actually need to get worms and you can do vermicomposting but
essentially you're collecting a bin of organic material that will then work to decompose your
food scraps right there in the bin I definitely plan on doing backyard composting at some point
in my future ideally when I have a house and a lot more outdoor space and then I'm gonna make
my own compost and use it in my own garden but right now I'm just sharing the simplest of the
simple how I go about collecting my food scraps in my New York City apartment and then drop them off
at a third-party site that will take my food scraps and bring them to a commercial composting
facility I do believe that most cities have a place where individuals can drop off their food
scraps to be turned into compost just try looking at your local farmer's market or doing a quick
google search I'm sharing a link down below that I found from litterless that is a resource compiling
a list of composting services available in every state I don't know the ins and outs of composting
all across the country but it's worth mentioning that collections at various food scrap donation
sites have been suspended recently because of COVID-19. so before you gather up your food
scraps and go to the farmers market near you check and make sure that they are in fact collecting
food scraps thankfully in Manhattan the Union Square Green Market is still open for food scrap
collections so that's where I'm going so here's how I do it a couple of years ago after a stop at
Whole Foods I got those Whole Foods paper bags I took a double bag so a bag inside a bag and I cut
the top off so that it fit into my freezer let me get it I've been using this double bag combination
for about a year now so it is starting to rip I actually will probably need to create a new one
very soon but this is what the bag looks like and it's very important to note that I don't just
carry it like this to the farmer's market if I did that I could really risk breaking it on the street
and spilling this food everywhere so instead I put these double bags inside of a third tote bag
which I carry on my shoulder and I carry it down in that bag first of all here's what it looks
like and as you can see inside it is just filled with now frozen food scraps and honestly it smells
like fruit but it doesn't have a bad smell at all because we really just put fruits and veggies in
here and they freeze immediately and that's great what's currently in my food scrap collection bin
all right let's see we made a couple of juices today so we have a lot of those juice scraps a lot
of kale, ginger, lemon, grounds I also have this giant skin oh gosh it's all connected there's also
the giant skin of a butternut squash that I ate last night for dinner there are a lot of peelings
from the outsides of fruits from the juice celery one way to help make sure you don't have way too
many food scraps is if you shop for your produce at the farmer's market often they will offer to
take those leaves off the top of things like carrots for you and yeah just lots of colors
lots of smells but I'm gonna be honest this smells really fresh and good it honestly smells to me
like I'm standing inside of a juice generation and it's just food scraps so that's cool so why the
freezer I was taught that collecting food scraps in the freezer helps to prevent any bad smell when
the food starts to rot after all you're collecting food scraps this is organic natural material
very quickly after this is exposed to the air it is going to start breaking down and smelling and
rotting it's just like smelling the inside of a garbage after you've dumped food in it the night
before I've never tried collecting my food scraps outside of the freezer because the freezer seems
to work really well for me but I have seen some really cute composting bins on people's counters
I think as long as the bin is airtight it's fine to keep it out of the freezer but keeping it in
the freezer does really help prevent the smell and to prevent bugs and as I've learned over time when
you're doing it in the freezer you actually can do it in an open bag like this some people even just
put a big metal bowl in their freezer and it can be exposed because the freezer does really stop
the smell and the next question that everyone wants to know is what can I and what can't I
compost various commercial composting facilities accept different things so you might want to
do a search beforehand just to make sure that everything you're throwing in the food scrap bin
is acceptable but I'll cover the things that are generally accepted and the things that are
generally not accepted things that are acceptable include coffee grounds and filters tea bags
cut flowers and house plants fruit and vegetable scraps any other non-greasy food scraps like pasta
bread or cereal but not the dairy if you are pouring milk in your cereal eggshells nuts
potting soil and brown paper products things that are often not accepted at compost sites include
meat fish animal bones dairy pet waste greasy food scraps and then some random things like receipts
coconuts plastics of any kind rubber bands twist ties plants that are infested with bugs
charcoal and more I do a ton of research about this topic regularly and I'm always
learning new things like apparently you should not compost avocado pits
because they can start to sprout another thing to note because this one always trips me up is before
putting any fruit or veggie scraps in there make sure the sticker is peeled off if you're finding
yourself really interested in this topic I would highly recommend looking into articles sharing
some interesting things that you can compost that you did not know were compostable I've definitely
learned a ton of fun facts from articles like that things like toilet paper rolls your own human hair
nail clippings as long as you weren't wearing any polish cardboard cereal or pasta boxes wine corks
your old bamboo toothbrush handle and so much more so as you might be able to tell I have done a ton
of research on this topic and that is basically step one for me whenever I start any new YouTube
video I go in hard on the research sometimes I'm sitting in front of the computer scrolling away
for hours and for anyone out there who is also on their computer regularly I wanted to share the new
wireless mouse that I've been using from Logitech I'm one of those people who likes to move around a
lot as I work so sometimes I'm sitting at my desk like a normal person I sit on the couch I sit at
the kitchen table I often stand right here in the kitchen and I use this windowsill as a standing
desk sometimes I'm lying in bed and doing work I'm really all over the place with my laptop
I really love mixing it up and changing up my work scenery you will rarely find me posted up in
my office all day without moving and this mouse is specifically meant to work well when used anywhere
so even tracking on glass or on a couch it works perfectly it's a very modern shape I chose the
pale gray color but they also have graphite and rose it has silicone side grips which make it
really comfortable in my hand it uses usbc quick charging and it stays powered up to 70 days on
a full charge which is amazing for me since I really don't like it with my tech gadgets die
quickly on me so if you're looking for a really comfortable really lightweight wireless mouse to
use definitely check out this one from Logitech I also love using it for video editing anyone who
edits their videos will tell you how difficult it is to use Adobe Premiere on your laptop with
the trackpad yes you can get used to it and get fast over time but i'm so used to sitting at an
actual computer using a mouse so when I have this wireless mouse with me it's almost like
I've created a little edit suite no matter where I'm sitting or standing so check out the link down
below if you want to try one for yourself and let me know if you also love sitting at your computer
and doing loads of research for hours when it comes to composting I know there's so much more
that I can learn and I really think that once I start backyard composting myself I will learn so
much just through the process of doing so stay tuned if you still follow me in maybe two three
years time I will share my backyard composting tips then but I know how many of you out there
are interested in taking small steps today to become more sustainable and healthy environment
and collecting your food scraps at home for composting is a tiny thing you can do to start
helping right now if you are a composting expert or even if you just have more info about this that
I did not cover please comment below and share your tips and wherever you live if there is an
incredible food scrap drop-off site that you think everyone needs to know about share details about
it below so that anyone in your area can easily find it thank you so much for coming back to my
YouTube channel be sure to follow me on instagram @luciebfink for more behind the scenes of our
life in New York City I share a lot of our daily life in this kitchen and in our apartment we're
currently growing some things in the aerogarden back there which is what you're seeing all lit
up and we also just installed a new shelf garden that's gonna grow lettuce tomatoes and lots of
veggies click on the thumbs up button down below if you like this video and I'll see you next time
bye
you