Typically Ithaca, gotta love the place.
Farmer's Market to use compostable cutlery for zero waste, sustainability
By Jennie Daley
Journal Staff
ITHACA — Don't throw away that fork. With only compostable utensils and plates available, that's the message vendors at the Ithaca Farmer's Market will be trying to get out when it opens for the season at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The move is part of the market's commitment to becoming a zero-waste operation. After years of filling up trash can after trash can with plastic spoons and polystyrene bowls, the market's board of directors decided it was time to shift costs from garbage collection to garbage reduction.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jan Norman, chair of the market's sustainability committee and a board member, said market vendors and the board had been talking about the possibility of shifting to compostables for some time.
At first, the obstacle was high cost for a limited number of options, Norman said. Since then several manufacturers have entered the field, and organizers found the distributor Regional Access helpful in providing several brands from which to choose. The only snag they've hit so far is finding compostable lids for hot drink cups. Norman is hoping shoppers will reuse lids until a substitute can be found or just skip a lid altogether.
Everything else will be picked up by Cayuga Composting, a division of P&S Excavating in Ulysses. Mark Wittig, the operations manager, said they're looking forward to having a new client and have no qualms about the new material, which will be less than one percent of their total inputs. The company has three years of experience with Greenware compostable plastic cups, used locally at Gimme! Coffee and GreenStar Cooperative Market, and Wittig said they've had no problems with the product.
Wittig and Norman both noted that commercial-scale composting is recommended for these plant-based plastics to have the necessary heat and moisture for decomposition.
By taking locally grown food waste, tossing it into bins with compostable kitchenware and breaking it down into compost that can then be used locally to grow more plants, “it really becomes a full circle concept,” said Norman.
To help offset the added cost to vendors for supplies, the market's board of directors set aside funds for the transition and ordered cutlery in bulk, with the idea of passing on the related savings. A grant from Tompkins County's Division of Solid Waste also will help with program implementation.
Some vendors learned about the board's decision somewhat late in the game.
Amy Lin, owner of Jung Ching Foods and the first food vendor at the market back in 1976, said she only recently learned of the switch. She had her fingers crossed that her order of plates and bowls would arrive in time for Saturday's market.
Lin said she definitely supported the change — “It's good in the long for our grandchildren,” she said — but Lin also noted that the increased costs are going to be passed on to the customer. She estimates the new plates and bowls will increase her costs by 60 percent.
Peggy Aker, owner of Macro Mamas, had a similar perspective on the increased cost.
“It's a price you pay one place or another. This is kind of a small price to pay for our environment,” she said.
Norman said the market is looking at making further commitments to reducing its environmental impact and would like to be the first market in the country to generate its own energy.
First they have to get this new program running smoothly. Vendors will be up early Saturday morning setting up stalls and posting signage around the market informing shoppers of the switch to compostables, how to handle them and soliciting suggestions for improvements.
“It's an idea whose time has come,” said Norman.
jdaley@ithacajournal.com
Originally published April 6, 2007
Prev
Yeah, I use to go as a kid (and teen) to check out the comics, hobby mags, and walk by and catch a glimpse of the "adult" stuff (true detective and others with some scantily clad lasses 
).
It will be on the corner of Danby (96B) and E. Kings Rds.
Linear Mode
