community services
Community Composting
I accept kitchen scraps from a small number of local households, by application only. Service is free of charge. To get started, email me to be included in the compost newsletter (only sent when there is something important to say) and then swing by to pick up an empty bucket. Collect your household scraps in the bucket (or in compostable bags that are placed in the bucket. When you have a full bucket, drop it off in the bottom of the compost station cabinet and take a clean one away with you.
Accepting:
Cooked and raw foods including meat, bones, and fish products
Fruit and vegetable scraps, including pits, stems, rinds, etc. (no rubber bands, bags, clips, ties, etc.)
Pasta, bread, cereal, candies, cookies, cake, baking ingredients, herbs, and spices
Dairy products and egg shells (no waxy rinds)
Nuts and nut shells
Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags (no staples)
Household plants including soil without pesticide or herbicide use
Unlined/uncoated paper food packaging, cut or torn to pieces
Paper towels and napkins, paper plates that are unlined/uncoated and cut or torn to pieces
Wood items such as toothpicks, popsicle sticks, coffee stirrers, and uncoated chopsticks
Dryer balls made of 100% wool
Repeated inclusion of non-compostable items will result from removal from the program.
If you collect scrap directly into the buckets, keep them fully closed at all times during spring, summer, and fall. Maggots are disgusting and produce a strong rotten ammonia smell that is impossible for me to remove and negatively affects other households until it dissipates.
If you decide to stop composting with me, simply return whatever buckets you have on-hand.
Specialty Drop-off Composting
You don't have to participate in the Community Composting Program to donate.
Small Logs & Large Branches
Bucked logs have many uses including bed-building, edging, and nutrient cycling. Bucked logs and branches donated in the metro area are gratefully accepted as drop-off, or pick-up if schedules permit.
Pumpkins & Gourds
Accepting drop offs of plain, undecorated pumpkins, squash, and gourds that have not been knowingly sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or paints.
Bagged Leaves
If you can't Leave The Leaves, leave them with me! Accepting drop offs of bagged leaves that have not been knowingly sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. If schedules allow, I would happily drive to pick up donations of 3 or more bags.
Hay Bales & Straw Bales
Accepting drop offs of bales of hay, straw, pine straw, etc. that have not been knowingly sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, scents, or paints.
Hard-to-Recycle Items
Getting to CHaRM is not always easy, but we are fortunate to be able to go regularly, and it's often possible to take along items from the community. We accept a limited amount of drop offs of these clean hard-to-recycle household items:
White styrofoam
Paint and household chemicals
Political/yard signs (fluted coroplast)
Small household electronics (think DVD players, toasters, string lights, cell phones, etc.)
Tires