LOS ANGELES -- Teresa Leong had known for years that her kitchen scraps weren't really trash. But at first, she wasn't sure what to do with them.
Sometimes she'd just toss a bell pepper into the bushes, figuring it would decompose and feed the greenery. But that wasn't a comprehensive solution. Then she tried washing unused veggies down the drain, knowing they'd be converted to reusable gas at the city's sewage treatment plant. But massive downloads of greens, even ground up in a blender, clogged the drain in her Studio City apartment.
Another round of "aggressive Googling" led Leong to a group called L.A. Compost and the start of a life-changing conversion that began — naturally enough — with broccoli stems, coffee grounds and banana peels. In the summer of 2019, this millennial with a mind for climate science and a heart for humanity delivered those leftovers to the nonprofit's booth at the Atwater Village Farmers Market.
