Compost

Write us at compost@redshedgarden.com with questions or suggestions.

Access

Red Shed Garden’s 3-bin compost system is open to all members. Join the garden to share it.

The nearest compost drop off for non-members is BK Scrap Shuttle, with drop off in Cooper Park. The Department of Sanitation lists other drop off locations and has resumed some curbside pickup.

The garden composts plant matter and egg shells.

Compost the following:

vegetable food scraps, including citrus and coffee grounds and beans;
eggshells;
bread (unless it is topped with butter, cheese, or anything else excluded below);
grains;
nuts; and
certain paper products: coffee filters and tea bags (without staples) and brown paper bags without ink/paint. Please rip brown paper into small pieces.

Please do not add:

oil or greasy foods;
“compostable” bags, utensils, cups, dishes, or other plastics;
packaging such as rubber bands, stickers, twist ties, and staples;
weeds (which the garden composts offsite; see “how to compost,” below);
animal products, including meat, dairy, fish, bones, and shells;
paper products not listed above, such as towels, napkins, and printed materials;
any human or animal waste, including used tissues and cat litter.

To compost weeds, add them to a open brown paper leaf bag. Look on the stage, or find a new bag in the shed.

To compost in our system:

Add anything from the allowed items list to the first (left/south-most) bin.
Stir your compost into the scraps bin.
- Find the corkscrew tool. It’s usually leaning against the willow tree; sometimes near the bins of browns left/south of the compost; less commonly in the shed.
- Screw the tool through your fresh scraps into the compost below, and pull up. Repeat a few times.
Top with browns. From the trash-can-style-bins left/south of the compost bins, scoop enough browns to sprinkle over the fresh compost.