By Robin Fator, Marketing & Development Manager for Solana Center for Environmental Innovation.
Solana Center – Pioneering Solutions to Climate Change
Across the globe, communities are grappling with the need to prepare for and respond to climate change. With the support of the community and local partners such as Dr. Bronner’s, Solana Center for Environmental Innovation offers tools and programs addressing natural resource protection, waste prevention, and soil health at their Climate Solutions Resource Center in Encinitas, California.
From water stewardship and waste recovery to composting and sustainable living, our programs focus on both environmental protection and regeneration of the beautiful San Diego region and beyond. Lately we have been doing an experiment to test the ability of Dr. Bronner’s soap and Sal Suds detergent to reduce odors and mold in kitchen compost caddies. This is part of our larger effort to provide education, consulting, and other resources to enable homes, schools, and businesses to divert organic material from landfills in order to prevent the production of climate-warming methane gasses. In support of California’s SB 1383 legislation, diverting organic materials such as food helps support food rescue efforts, feed people in need, and nourish soils through compost production in order to feed future generations.
The Experiment: Does Dr. Bronner’s Effectively Deodorize a Food Scraps Caddy?
For this experiment, the Solana Center tested four variables: one control with no additive, two preventative treatments to test the efficacy of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap or Sal Suds in preventing odors from developing, and one post-treatment to test the efficacy of Dr. Bronner’s at deodorizing smelly kitchen caddies after holding food waste for a span of time.
Each week, the team emptied the caddies, performed the pre- or post-cleaning treatments, and filled each caddy with food scraps and soiled paper, repeating for a total of four weeks. Dr. Bronner’s Soap offered a natural, effective, and biodegradable solution that kept the caddies looking and smelling clean and fresh. Weather you are curbside composting or have a robust garden area, we recommend this method of facilitating cleaner kitchen caddy bins for users, common barriers to behavior change such as the “ick factor” of odors or pests are avoided by using a product that is made locally by a family business and safe for the whole family and planet to use.
Cleaning Your Food Scraps Caddy with Dr. Bronner’s
Here’s how you can keep your kitchen food scraps caddy fresh with Dr. Bronner’s Soap!
Preventing Odors and Residue
- Make GIY (Green It Yourself) All-Purpose Cleaning Spray:
- Put 2 C. water in a spray bottle. Add 2 TB of Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap. Tilt to mix.
- Spray empty kitchen caddy generously with GIY All Purpose Cleaning Spray.
- Fill the kitchen caddy with food scraps as usual.
Treating Odors and Residue
- Empty kitchen caddy and rinse with water.
- Fill the kitchen caddy with water (use near-boiling water to dislodge sticky residue).
- Add a squirt (1⁄2 tsp.) Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap. Let sit for ~10 minutes. Empty kitchen caddy–no need to rinse!
- Fill the kitchen caddy with food scraps as usual.
Solana Center is proud to provide Dr. Bronner’s Soaps as an affordable and biodegradable solution to make organic waste sorting at home easier and more palatable for all. Our mission is to empower innovative solutions to climate change through education, community engagement, and research.