Maggots love my organic waste bin come summer. Sacramento has a pretty cool solution | Opinion
My daily battle against climate change starts in the kitchen, as I separate all that organic waste so that it doesn’t later produce methane in some landfill. Those food scraps first go into a compost bag, and then its own bin in the garage.
The routine has been mildly satisfying, as the city of Sacramento began organic waste pickup in 2022. But then the weather got hot, the scraps stewed in the hot garage — odorous to a human, but gourmet to a fly. And its offspring, which turn into maggots.
My organic waste bin — my personal contribution to cooling the planet — had become occupied by a battalions of maggots. Under the lid and throughout the can, they had spread out in remarkable symmetry of gooey white dots.
I found myself at war against the maggot. It is a war I do not want to wage. Yes, I want to keep my organics out of the landfill. But do I really have to deal with hundreds of maggots in the process? And our summers are just going to get hotter, climate change worse. How can I do the right thing and lead a maggot-free lifestyle?
I could blame the California Legislature for this quandary. It passed a bill back in 2016 mandating this separation of our organic waste at curbside for pickup, hoping to divert 75 percent of this waste from landfills come next year. That goal isn’t expected to happen due to a slow start, but separating the organics from what truly is garbage is the right thing to do.
Landfills emit an estimated 2% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions overall and 21% of methane emissions. That’s simply too big a source of emissions to ignore. And to solve this problem, it means that millions of Californians have to change their daily habits when it comes to organic waste. Including mine.
I have some physical constraints in this war in my downtown flat. My waste cans all must stay inside the garage, save for pickup day.
My search for solutions all offended some sensibility. The city’s website, for example, suggested I store my food scraps in the refrigerator, or the freezer. Who wants to see garbage in their refrigerator? Opening this appliance is supposed to bring joy.
I called the city. Jesa David of the city’s Solid Waste and Recycling Division suggested reinforcements. “Lining the indoor food scrap pail or other vessel with compostable bags (or food-soiled paper or newspaper) can help prevent odor and reduce pests both inside and outdoors,” David said. But I already do that.
I searched the internet. To be sure, it offers a host of maggot strategies. But they are all unsatisfying, such as various chemical approaches for sale to kill pests or odors. Or home-made remedies such as sprays of bleach and water. Who wants to spend money on a garbage can? Or turn its maintenance to a never-ending project?
The maggots, it seemed, had won. No solution seemed acceptable.
But giving up, and to start tossing away banana peels and greasy pizza boxes as if they were garbage, was not an option either. Climate change is quite real. And somewhere in my brain is the reality that the globe has no chance to cool itself without billions of human behavior changes.
It turns out the city of Sacramento had my answer all along.
The city makes storing a pail of organics in a refrigerator downright easy. Sacramento offers them for free at three locations.
When I open the refrigerator in search of the next morsel, I do not see garbage. I see an innocent pail containing my organics. And if I need every inch of room in the fridge for, say, food, the pail can find another temporary home.
A hideously hot July has transitioned to a much kinder August. The Delta breeze has returned. The air conditioner stands silent. There is a mystery pail in my refrigerator. The maggots are gone. And not a scrap of food heads from the manor to the landfill to warm the planet.
Sometimes in life, doing the right thing simply means getting over yourself.
I have conquered the maggot. The solution, all along, was to chill.