Community Composting
Community composting can take place at many scales – backyard, block, neighborhood, schoolyard, universities, farms, parks, regional hubs– and in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
The distinguishing feature is that community composters keep the process and product as local as possible while engaging people through participation and education.
Guiding Principles of Community Composting
Locally based and closed loop
Organic materials are a community asset, and are generated and recycled into compost within the same neighborhood or community.
Community engaged, empowered, and educated
Compost programming engages and educates the community in food systems thinking, resource stewardship, or community sustainability, while providing solutions that empower individuals, businesses, and institutions to capture organic waste and retain it as a community resource.
Resources recovered
Waste is reduced; food scraps and other organic materials are diverted from disposal and composted.
Organic materials returned to soils
Compost enhances local soils, supports local food production, and conserves natural ecology by improving soil structure and maintaining nutrients, carbon, and soil microorganisms.
Community-scaled and diverse
Composting infrastructure is diverse and sustainable; systems are scaled to meet the needs of a self-defined community.
Community supported
Aligns with community goals (such as healthy soils and healthy people) and is supported by the community it serves. The reverse is true, too; a community composting program supports community social, economic, and environmental well-being.
Source: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Composting for Community Initiative. For more resources, visit ILSR's community composting homepage.