It’s as “green” as it gets!
A Ditmas Park man has invented a pollution-free, bicycle-pulled trailer that he’s testing out by carting rotting garbage and fresh produce to like-minded greenies across the neighborhood.
Greg Diedrich says he’s going to use his new bike-pulled trailer to haul compost from local backyards to the Newkirk Avenue garden tended to by members of Compost for Brooklyn, a grassroots compost collective, where it will be use to help grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.
But wait — it gets greener!
Diedrich says the leg-powered trailer will also be used to deliver fresh produce — grown at a mom-and-pop-owned organic farm in Pennsylvania for members of Ditmas Park’s Community Supported Agriculture co-op — to residents who don’t have the means to pick it up themselves.
It’s all part of a plan to deliver the raw materials of roughage before and after it’s prepared to eat — and creating a lifestyle where very little goes to waste.
“Compost for Brooklyn never had the means to go around and collect compost from other areas,” said Diedrich, who pointed out that members will finally be able to pick up compost and drop off vegetables at the same time — without burning any fossil fuels.
Diedrich said he’s pushing to expand the service and do more pick-ups, but they need more volunteers to get it off the ground.
“I will be spearheading that campaign to make sure the trailer really gets worked in with [the farm share] and Compost For Brooklyn first,” he said.
Diedrich says the cart cost him $145 in parts and took him just six hours to build — and a cool, step-by-step how-to guide, drafted by Diedrich and his partner Pavel Mamontov, is posted online, so anyone can build one.
“The idea is that we can spread this and use it in more places,” he said.
The trailer will be unveiled during an anniversary block party celebrating the founding of the compost group one year ago.
The composting collective has around 100 members who haul organic trash to their garden at Newkirk Avenue and E. Eighth Street where it is converted into topsoil for planting, said Compost for Brooklyn member Louise Bruce.
Anniversary block party at Compost For Brooklyn (Newkirk Avenue at E. Eighth Street in Ditmas Park), June 5, noon to 6 pm. For info, e-mail compostforbrooklyn@gmail.com.
