Effort kept 198 tons of garbage from landfill in 2011  

Six-year-old David Lucsay is now an expert at sorting out food waste. Picking up food scraps after dinner, he carries the plate across the kitchen, unlocks an approximately 10 gallon black case, and throws the scraps in.

“One year ago he couldn’t open the case well, but now he can,” said his mother, Amber Lucsay, proud to see his progress. “Now he knows things don’t all go into one bin.”

The city’s organic collection pilot program provided the black case to the Lucsay family, and every day after dinner, they throw away their unwanted leftover vegetables, meat, fish, and so on into this bin, dump it into another big black cart, and leave it to the city for a special, weekly curbside collection.

The heat and sunshine are causing Madison beaches to have some pre-season open hours this weekend.

Regional beaches

• BB Clarke Beach, 835 Spaight St.
• Olbrich Park Beach, 3527 Atwood Ave
• Tenney Park Beach, 1414 E. Johnson St.
• Vilas Park Beach, 702 S. Randall St.

​Neighborhood beaches

Living in the city, even in a limited space, doesn’t have to mean giving up a garden. Just ask Lisa Brennan and Sean Gere.

In April, the duo launched Sprout, a store placing emphasis on gardening in urban settings by using creative growing methods such as living walls and terrariums.

“The big thing that makes it different is that we’re really focusing on small space gardening,” said Brennan.

The store is located inside of Four Star Video Haven at 449 State Street, which Brennan has owned for 11 years. She began thinking about the business after reading on natural history, ecology, alternative economics, and urban gardening. The many unused balconies on State Street suitable for growing plants inspired her to act.

“I would just love to see everything blooming and growing food,” she said.