While mandatory recycling laws are something starting to take shape in several cities across America, San Francisco is moving things a step further by requiring all residents to compost.

As MNN reported back in April, the new law — which takes effect Oct. 21 — requires every residence and business to have three separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling, green for compost and black for trash. It’s all part of an ambitious goal to reduce waste and have the city sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by 2020.

Several years ago, dog owners in the college town of Ithaca, N.Y., began worrying about all the plastic bags filled with dung that ended up in the landfill.

Leon Kochian, a professor of plant biology at Cornell and, more to the point, the owner of a yellow lab, recalled the thinking at the time: “This is Ithaca. There’s got to be a more environmentally sensible way to do this.”

This year, with Mr. Kochian’s nudging, one of the city’s dog parks — part of the Allan H. Treman Marine State Park — became a dog waste composting park.

Special corn-based bags, made by the Biobag Company, based in Florida, are available at several stations in the park. Dog owners put the bag and its contents into large bins near the park’s entrances, which are removed once a week by a company called Cayuga Compost.

Students at the University of Illinois are experimenting with ways to convert food waste into compost for their campus farm.

Todd Rusk of ISTC is working with this group.

When I started composting several years ago, I was like a lot of gardeners: I knew that compost was good for my garden, but I had no idea why.

As I began research for this article, my questions merely multiplied. Some of the claims made about compost seemed too good to be true and others made no sense at all. How could compost fight plant diseases? What did it mean to say, as so many sources do, that compost “buffered” or “balanced” soil pH levels? If compost did bind nutrients in the soil, how did it do so? Lots of sources list “adds beneficial micro-organisms” under compost benefits; did it really do this, and if so, what are the benefits?

Converted Organics Inc.  announced today that the company has formed an innovative partnership with the city of Gonzales, CA and the Gonzales Unified School District to recycle food waste from local school cafeterias into all-natural organic fertilizer for application on Gonzales school fields, city parks and public spaces. The recycling program will begin in mid-August to coincide with the start of the school year. The fertilizer will be made using Converted Organics’ proprietary technology and process known as High Temperature Liquid Composting (HTLC).

The City of Austin has launched an effort to try to dramatically reduce garbage and boost reuse and recycling within a generation.

The city has hired a California firm, Gary Liss & Associates, to spend six months writing a zero-waste plan: a long-term strategy to reduce to zero the amount of garbage sent to landfills by reusing, recycling and composting materials instead.

It’s a 7-foot-long wooden box, painted light blue and decorated with student handprints, paint splashes and stars. To anybody who’s visiting Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, the box could be a student art project or a container for sports equipment.

But when science teacher Todd Burckin opened the lid during lunch break, apple cores, banana peels, shreds of newspaper and tiny red worms were scattered throughout the soil in the box. The “worm bin” is part of the school’s recycling program, and while students are studying algebra and history, 10 pounds of red wiggler earthworms are busy producing fertilizer for compost.

The rule should be published in the Federal Register within the next two weeks.

More on the Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) that outlines changes to the list of items designated in the CPG landscaping products category:  http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/procure/rman5.htm

Information on EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines Web site: http://www.epa.gov/cpg

Global climate change presents a serious national security threat that could affect Americans at home, impact U.S. military operations and heighten global tensions, top retired military leaders warn in a new report released on April 16.

The report, “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change,” explores ways projected climate change is a “threat multiplier” in already fragile regions of the world, exacerbating conditions that lead to failed states — the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism.

The CNA Corp., a think tank, brought together 11 retired four-star and three-star admirals and generals to provide advice, expertise and perspective on the impact of climate change on national security. CNA writers and researchers compiled the report under the board’s direction and review. The full report will be available at http://SecurityAndClimate.cna.org.

That’s what people in Hollywood have been asking Global Inheritance and musical group The Roots as part of their new program with schools called Feed Your Roots. While the bin signed by stars like Dave Chappelle, Jill Scott, Common, Fall out Boy, and Isaiah Washington is being auctioned off to help support the program, they’re also giving away 5 specially designed compost bins that have been autographed by members of The Roots to schools that come up with the most creative composting campaigns on their campus. Now we can’t say these bins have actually been “game used”, but they are definitely a great way to show the students in your school that composting is the cool thing to do…

Collection of resources for developing school lunch programs “to address the crisis in childhood obesity, provide nutrition education, and teach ecological knowledge.” The “Rethinking School Lunch Guide” addresses food policy, curriculum integration, finances, facility design, waste management, and other school lunch topics. Site also includes “A Visual Guide to Integrated School Lunch Curriculum,” a model wellness policy guide, and a food policy essay series. From the Center for Ecoliteracy, a grantmaking foundation.

Pester power. Even if you have not heard of it you’ve experienced it.

Children might want a new Barbie or the latest pair of trainers – but what about a new compost bin?

That is what children from Scarning Primary School are being taught to pester for.

Profile of Tom Szaky, the 23 year old CEO of TerraCycle, who developed a plant fertilizer made from worm waste.

Euless, Texas, has come up with a unique approach to reducing the amount of waste going into its landfills. Through free workshops and educational events at schools, the city of 53,000 distributed more than 100 pounds of red wiggler worms early last year to residents and students as part of its compost-ology program. The worms eat garbage, such as rotting fruits and vegetables, and produce a waste that enriches soil. The city also distributed composting bins, workbooks, composting thermometers and spray bottles. In the first quarter of this year, the city hauled away 110 tons less waste compared with the same period in 2005. Euless financed the project through city funds and a $32,000 grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments. To learn more, visit www.ci.euless.tx.us/composting.

Homes and apartment blocks could halve their water use by installing revolutionary sewage recycling technology, Sydney scientists say. About the size of four refrigerators, it uses bacteria and fungi to convert sewage into water fit for gardens, flushing toilets and cleaning.

When it comes to saving the planet, Toyota Motor Corp. seems to be leaving no stone unturned. Nor, as it turns out, any pile of cow dung. The world’s number-two car maker said on Friday it had co-developed a cutting-edge composting ingredient and process that drastically reduce nitrous oxide, methane and other greenhouse gases, as well as offensive odours produced by livestock waste — part of its efforts to clean the environment.