Community Composting

Community composting is where a central composting site is created and maintained by a municipal government or local group and is made available to members of the community.

Community composts work much like a backyard compost pile, but on a larger scale. Generally they use low-tech composting technology at their compost sites, such as open-air windrow composting, long, triangulated piles of organic waste that are piled up and turned regularly by a front end loader.

A drop-off site provides residents with a means to compost organic waste from their home. Community compost sites accept the same types of waste you would put in a backyard compost – like food scraps and yard waste.

Benefits Of Community Composting:

• Reduces waste going to our landfills – increasing the lifespan of our landfills.
• Decreases the cost of transporting and disposing of waste at landfills.
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions (methane gas).
• Reduces leachate (the toxic liquid that runs from a landfill).
• Shows a community’s commitment to local environmental sustainability.
• Produces an end product – compost – that can be used by the community to add nutrients to the soil.