My buddy Mark worked at a cafe downtown last summer. He told me they used to throw out piles of old bread every day. Then they started composting it all, along with other food scraps. Now they have less trash and help a local garden. Do you know if this is common in other cities?
That bit about throwing out piles of bread hits close to home. I tried composting my kitchen scraps once, but gave up after a month because it just attracted flies and smelled like a swamp. From what I've seen, it really depends on the city. Some places have pickup programs for restaurants and apartments, so it's pretty common. Others don't make it easy at all, so most stuff just goes in the trash. It's a good idea that never quite seems to work out evenly.