Keeping organic matter out of landfills

This seems like a no-brainer, but lots of folks must still be putting organic matter in the trash, based on a discussion at a meeting today.

It's easy to compost.  Just dig it in under shrubs, trees, and edges, if you don't have a compost pile. My mom, from her hillside house (in a wooded neighborhood) in Austin, Texas, liked to throw her compostable materials (banana peels, apple cores, etc.) into the woods below her deck.  They decomposed quickly, and didn't ever look unsightly, as I recall.

It's not hard to compost vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, leftover bread, shredded paper, paperboard in a simple compost pile or bin, either, if you have the space - apartment dwellers have options with worm bins and other kinds of indoor composting systems.

my gardening companion with a large pile of fresh mulch (wood chips)

Not to mention leaves, yard 'waste' and other forms of biodegradable woodies. We have leaf pick-up in our neighborhood via a vacuum truck (although, we NEVER let leaves leave our landscapes), so if we need more, we have them delivered. 

bags of leaves snagged in our neighborhood in the mountains

And, in the mountains, where leaf pickup has (probably briefly) transitioned to bagging, we can pick up lots more.