Alaska News

Landfill or land food?

When my coworker Eric mentioned that he was going to be heading to the landfill this weekend to take advantage of Anchorage's spring cleanup landfill-specials, I couldn't believe how ignorant he was to sustainable yard rules. He's recently lived in Portland, after all. And there's a Tupperware container in the office fridge filled with arugula. When he offered me some recently, he made a point to tell me, in that superior tone that people use when they say such things, that it was "locally grown."

Here he is dreaming of building a compost pile, of seeding his yard with wildflowers, of buying perennials, of perhaps growing some arugula of his own, and yet, like, he was going to take his yard waste to the dump? That kind of talk will land you in gardening jail in some circles. Even I, an ardent conspicuous consumption fan, know this.

"He's thinking of doing what?" Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage gardening demigod, said when I called him. "No," he said. "Tell him no."

I told him no. Eric rolled his eyes in exactly the way that eco-conscious arugula eaters do when you call them out on their conspicuous consumption disguised as eco-consciousness. (Yes, foodies, I'm talking to you).

Lowenfel's rule: it should stay where it is, if possible. "It's criminal that we build these gigantic landfills," to dump things that are so good for our yards and our gardens, he said. If you have to rake old leaves, keep them for the compost pile (which, he said, requires brown and green), or put them under your trees, bushes, and your perennial beds. Put your grass clippings around annuals and veggies. They provide water and nutrients.

But if you absolutely can't stand the sight of yard waste -- or, if in Eric's case, doing so will provide some domestic harmony, he says -- you can at least take your yard waste to Evergreen Nursery & Garden. They'll take it, un-bagged. It'll cost you $10 a truckload, and they'll no doubt put it to good use.

Or, you could take it to the landfill, for free. Craig Medred has another idea: "Dump it on the damn roadside." Spoken as a true Alaskan.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda(at)alaskadispatch.com

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