In a tight urban space, committing to compost isn’t the easiest of feats. But in Washington, D.C. residents will soon be able to reap the benefits of composting without dealing with its difficulties.

Launching this spring, Compost Cab will provide customers with a bin which can then be filled with all kinds of compostables. Once a week, Compost Cab will pick up the organic material and compost it for you. For every 50 pounds of organic waste that Compost Cab collects from a customer, the customer is entitled to five pounds of fresh compost and one pound of worm castings in exchange. That’s a screaming deal for you and your plants.

For those who don’t have yard or garden space but still want to take part in the composting effort, Compost Cab will donate the customer’s share of compost to Engaged Community Offshoot, an urban farm that aims to provide people from all walks of life with sustainable, fresh produce.

But D.C. isn’t the only area with composting services. In Northampton, MA, residents can take advantage of composting services offered by Pedal People, with your organic waste being collected by bike. Same goes for the people of Philadelphia, who can call on Pedal Co-op to pick up their kitchen waste.

Are you an urbanite with a creative way of composting? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Image: SaltyGrease

The post Convenient Composting for Urbanites appeared first on EcoSalon.

When a bike wheel builder friend of mine asked if I would like to attend an anniversary party for a local bike-related business, of course I said yes. In Portland, it’s never a good idea to turn down the opportunity to hang out with bike lovers and enjoy a few free drinks and hors d’oeuvres in the process.

But this was no regular bike throwdown; this was a full-on celebration of a commitment to better, more sustainable urban living. It was B-line’s one-year anniversary, and the people that came out to support this pedal powered delivery service were abuzz with positive energy.

B-line launched last year with the goal of partnering with businesses to take care of their urban delivery needs and, in turn, reduce the need for conventional trucks and vans. In the last 12 months, the company has certainly succeeded, pedaling over 6,000 miles to complete 3,000 deliveries. The results are pretty astonishing.

They’ve been able to reduce CO2 emissions by 11,000 pounds and they’ve helped delivered just about 191,000 pounds of organic produce; that’s on top of all the bread, coffee, tea and other things they pedal around town. As I listened to B-Line Founder and CEO Franklin Jones rattle off these statistics, I was impressed, not only because a pedal powered business is making it, but because they are making real change and influencing others to do the same.

It’s a common tendency to encourage people to “bike more, drive less,” but in cities without the necessary infrastructure to do so, making that choice is difficult. Granted, Portland is a city already known for its biking prowess, but with a company like B-line as a big local business player, the impetus for having better bike policies in grows even stronger. Case and point: Portland’s Mayor was invited to speak at this party.

Fewer trucks and vans on the road mean better streets for bikers and pedestrians, as well as less pollution. An increasing number of local businesses committed to using bike delivery shows their full-fledged support of cycling culture. That, in turn, equals less CO2 emissions and happier, healthier lifestyles, which benefits everyone in the urban community.

The post ‘Pedaling’ Bike Culture in Portland and Beyond appeared first on EcoSalon.

Tight schedule with no time for an outdoor dose of fresh air? Not too worry. Bottled Air brings that breath of fresh air to you, leaving you the time to get your to-do list done.

Yes, bottling fresh air is an actual thing.

In the UK, a study found that 74% of workers feel stressed on a daily basis. (Shocking, we know.) But instead of considering promoting 20 minute breaks for a set of sun salutations or a brisk walk outside, The National Trust has a better solution: offering bottled fresh air to stressed out Londonites.

“With most of us living in an urban environment and having little time to escape to the great outdoors, we thought it was about time the National Trust shared just a fraction of our copious amounts of fresh air with the nation,” says Andrew McLaughlin, Head of Communications at the National Trust.

The fresh air, which comes from three different rural and coastal locations, is bottled in recycled glass jars and is said to “relieve stress for up to ten minutes with each 454 gram jar containing 0.42 grams of fresh air.” And when you’re done enjoying your breath of fresh air, you can reuse that bottle for many things, including “capturing your own locally-sourced fresh air.”

I’m all for providing the tools to allow for a stress-free work environment, but I’m not entirely convinced that it comes bottled in a jar. Yes, fresh air in the countryside is unbeatable, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting out and exploring your urban environment.

Need help? Check out our guide to urban hiking. Or go plan an urban bike ride. Whatever you do, make sure you’re allowing yourself to spend time outside of the cubicle doing something active. That’s much better than sniffing a glass bottle.

Photo Credit: National Trust

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