Community Composting Projects
Food Scrap and Leaf Drop off Sites
Collection sites this summer Yarducopia hosts three community-scale composting sites in Anchorage. These sites have active compost piles in the Spring, Summer, and Fall and we accept food scraps, leaves, and pesticide-free yard and garden clippings. At all locations there will be leaves and wood chips to mix with food scraps and cover the compostables you've added. New to this? Want a demo? Reach out to Nick at 717 4392 to learn what and when you'll be dropping off and other aspects of the process.
Check Share Waste for locations or to become a 'drop off' site. Three of the sites on the ShareWaste map:
- Midtown Garden Depot - 2930 Cheechako Street - near the front gate
- Spenard Community Garden - 1303 West 33rd - next to the LSS Food Pantry
- My house - 3740 Williams Street - at the corner of Williams and the alley.
Want to host a drop-off site? To keep it conveneint, it would be ideal to have drop off sites spread around Anchorage. So we're looking for more spots. Reach out if you're interested
Chicken treats - Get on the group text
Would your chickens enjoy the occasional 5 gallon bucket of fresh veggies? On Mondays and Thursdays, vegetables from a nearby commercial kitchen will be available for pickup at 3740 Williams Street (Tudor Area).
Veggies will be in the bed of the Big Blue pickup truck in the driveway. Bring your own container and keep things tidy. We have a group text chain where you can learn when fresh veggies are availalbe and when the bins are empty (907-717-4392).
Weekly composting workparty
Composting workparties are Tuesday evenings, 6-7 pm at the Midtown Garden Depot. This is a chance to bring organics to compost, learn about composting, and lend a hand making more compost to share out of the Depot. These are informal gatherings, so join in when you can. If you're bringing time-senstive organics (e.g. food waste, spent grain), please try to come closer to 6 pm so we have time to incorporate it into the compost pile. Check Google Calendar for up-to-date schedule and other composting events.
Curbside organics collection by bicycle
Goal: provide curbside organics pickup to Anchorage residents using bicycles (or other sustainable methods of hauling) and create compost to improve Anchorage's soil. We're at the 'ideas' stage, so please let us know what you think and if/how you'd like to be involved.
Is this the right goal? How should this system be setup? How best to collect the organics? How to use organics once collected (chicken feed, compost, etc)? Subscription fee to cover costs, compensate haulers and composters?
Send along ideas and input to [email protected] / 907 717 4392 Thank you!
Different ways to compost in Anchorage
Calling all gardeners! Together we're trying to redirect high-quality food waste away from our landfill (where it produces methane, leachate, and costs rate payers $$) and instead turn those organics into compost. There's a variety of ways to participate and get involved. One or more might be right for you!
In your backyard
- Start a compost pile in your own backyard with your own yard and kitchen waste
- Our Midtown Garden Depot has leaves and other materials to mix with your grass and kitchen waste
- We're here to help! Reach out with questions and for help getting started.
With a neighbor
- Use the website ShareWaste to find neighbors nearby who are interested in taking organics to feed their compost piles, chickens, etc,
- Advertise to your neighbors that YOU want to be a collection spot and compost for them
- Share the cost of a SWS curbside organics cart (the pink ones) with a neighbor.
With the community
- Participate in our community composting program by dropping off organics (take a bucket, leave a bucket) at one of our collection sites where it'll be fed to animals and composted
- Join our weekly composting workparties, learning and teaching composting while making compost for the neighborhood.
- Talk with your local store and restaurant owners about participating. We can help turn their high quality food waste into animal feed and compost for gardens and landscaping. Read about our partnership with Providence Hospital to get a better idea of what that could look like.
Have a question or need a hand?
Call our 'Compost Hotline' at 907 717 4392 or send an email to [email protected]
Our Cooperative Extension Service has several top-knotch composting publications
Priorities when diverting food waste
The projects feeding animals and composting food waste described above are only some of the ways to approach reducing food waste. Note the two highest priorities - reducing waste at the farm/garden & feeding people.