Residential Composting Survey: A First Look at the Data
In December 2014, Kompost Kids teamed up with local researcher Harini S. Aiyer to leverage her experience in data gathering and analysis and administer a survey about the composting behavior of the residents of Milwaukee. We used direct emailing to subscribers of newsletters (Kompost Kids and Groundwork), Facebook posts (on KK and Groundwork pages) as well as Facebook advertisements targeting people in the greater Milwaukee area whose interests included environmental awareness and green living. Because the target audiences for this phase of the survey were specifically oriented to our cause, the data are skewed. Kompost Kids is currently in the process of administering a Phase 2 survey to a larger audience to help address this issue and gain a broader understanding of the composting landscape in our city.
The first phase of the survey lasted from December 2014 to April 2015 and resulted in 168 usable responses. Of these respondents, the majority were women (78%) between the ages of 25–35 (37%) with a college education (60%). The income distribution was fairly even, with no particular category contributing extensively to the response pool. Most respondents lived in houses and outnumbered apartment dwellers by 3 to 1. An overwhelming majority cooked at home (95%), indicating that food waste was being consistently generated. Although 50% of the respondents had access to a garbage disposal, only 8% of them used it to dispose of food waste. The most heartening piece of data is that 40% of our respondents already composted their food waste, with another 10% periodically taking it to a community composting site. Finally, 35% of the respondents who currently dump their food waste in the trash would like to compost it instead.
There are a couple of takeaways from this first look at the data. First, many people who are plugged into the green culture are already diverting their food waste from the landfill. Second, even those who currently are dumping food waste in the trash may be willing to change their practices if given the proper education and equipment.
The data are currently being mined for more insights, and we will share them with you in upcoming newsletters and blog posts.
Hi,
I am a grad student here in University of Michigan. I am quite curious of your survey result as I am planning to conduct a survey in NYC this summer. Can I ask would you be able to share your survey questions and initial results with me? You can reach me through my email
Hi Alex,
I’ll have to connect with our data person, she’s currently working and traveling. But in general – as a community-based non-profit we try to keep things as open-source as possible! Please email: compost@kompostkids.com to follow up for more specifics.
Thanks!
Renee