“I’ve always thought I should do composting, but just haven’t ever gotten set up for that…would I really remember what goes in, what doesn’t go in, & could my kids figure it out?”

“I worry about it climate change, but can I really DO anything about it right now?”

“I need some gardening soil. Where can I get some good stuff?”

The SOLUTION to these concerns is something you can do right now! Second UU will do it once we reopen our church building. And it is all pretty darned easy.

Hillside Solutions is a commercial composting company that takes our food waste and turns it into soil. Since it is industrial, it can utilize much more than regular back-yard composting can manage, things such as dairy, meat, bones, paper products, practically anything that was once living. And you get some of it back in the form of beautiful soil.

Here’s how it works: You choose a membership. The general membership is $8.99/month or $107.88/yr . Discounts for Teachers/Students/Vets/Military/Seniors make it only $4.50/month or $54/yr. You may start or stop at any time. There is also a current lifetime member discount on the website. Households, businesses, schools and churches that are members collect food scraps, deposit it in green bins at one of the many sites all over Omaha (Second Unitarian has just become one of them!); you can use any site you like 24/7. Hillside Solutions picks it up weekly and converts it to rich, beautiful organic soil. Members get an allotment of the soil back annually along with discounts for more. The general public may also purchase the compost-generated soil. Small amounts of yard waste can go into bins, but as a member you can also take unlimited yard waste to the Soil Dynamics Yard of Hillside’s in downtown Omaha. You’ll probably be amazed at how little you put down your garbage disposal and how little you have left for the regular trash can.

Once you join Hillside you are given a detailed map of bin locations as well as the lock code for padlocks on the bins. That way, only members can use the bins and pests are kept out. The church drop-off site will be available to anyone who is a member, which will emphasize our commitment to taking care of the planet. It will be super easy to drop off what you have collected at home into the church bin once you are coming to the building again. The Church itself will also eventually become a member, so when we resume meeting there we will use separate containers for landfill items and compostable items.

All of this serves to reduce our input into landfills that emit methane and produce toxic sludge. It is in alignment with our values as Unitarian Universalists. It is optional, of course, to become an individual household member.

There is a great deal more information at www.hillside.solutions. That is also where you can set up membership if you choose to utilize this service.

~ Ronda Stevens