compost

[girl4pele]

Hey NW, I have a question. I would like to start composting, and am having some trouble with local community compost areas. I had some leads about "old" community compost areas in E. Mt Airy, but perhaps the e-mails were outdated or they no longer head the compost site.
If anyone is currently participating in a community compost site, please let me know how I can get started! Also, I'm hoping to avoid paying $15 a month to the service that comes to pick up your compost once a week at your house, if possible. Thanks for any help!

[kyrmyt]

You may want to check with any obvious community gardens if there are any in your area. Ask the folks at Weavers Way and/or the Morris Arboretum. Any chance that you compost on your own premises? I've got a beaut in my backyard, collecting coffee grounds and eggshells from a diner, scooping up the veggie wastes at supermarkets etc...

[vcm]

Good idea to check out community gardens. If you don't have the space or the inclination to compost in your own yard, you might try asking a neighbor if you can put your stuff in their compost pile (and share the resulting black gold.) At different points we've had friends contributing to our compost who didn't have space for their own. One friend even saved her compost in her freezer in West Philly and brought it out to our compost heap in NW Philly whenever she came to see us.

[StrangeTanks]

I've been doing worm composting for several years now. Its super easy and if you don't want the resulting compost you'll probably have people lining up to take it off your hands. You can either order the worms online or find someone who already does it, chances are they have a gazillion they would be willing to donate to you.

[thomast]

Was your original source of info the Philly Compost Map? If not, check that and see if there's newer information than what you have.

Also - I did sign up for Bennett Compost for weekly compostables pickup in November through a discount deal offered to members of The Energy Coop - you get 6 mos & a big bucket of compost back for $75, which is basically one month free over their regular plan. If you're already using the Energy Coop, that might be worth looking into.