Here We Grow Again: Expanded Composting Options
We’re delighted to announce that earlier this winter, we reworked our behind-the-scenes process to enable us to directly haul food scraps to Harbor View Composting Facility operated by Whole Earth Compost and The Green Era Campus, the newest composting operation in Chicago.
CMA, BPI and Pizza Boxes
There is so much good news about this change we’ve made, but let’s start with that anything that is certified compostable, whether it is CMA- or BPI-certified, is accepted at these facilities. If compostable is written on it, we can collect it. And yes, we can take pizza boxes again! Updated info is on the What to Compost page on our website.
Contamination
Our drivers report that the number one contaminator of the material we collect from households is plastic bags. We don’t mean compostable plastic bags, we mean ziplocs and plastic bags made from petroleum not plants. Often there is food inside that has rotted. Most produce still comes in plastic packaging that is not compostable. Please take it out of its packaging.
Anaerobic Digestion at Green Era
Up until this point, we’ve hauled only to commercial composting facilities that do windrow composting. Green Era uses a different method called anaerobic digestion. This method produces both nutrient-rich finished compost and biogas that can be converted into clean, high quality Renewable Natural Gas (RNG).
The finished compost will be used both on their own campus and by farmers in the Urban Growers Collective.
The 9-acre Green Era Campus is located in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, on what was formerly a vacant brownfield site—land that had been abandoned or underutilized due to pollution from industrial use.
Windrow Composting at Harbor View
Whole Earth Compost operates a windrow composting site that is on top of a capped landfill on Chicago’s southeast side. We’ve been sending material on-and-off to this site for 13 years. It has been managed by different companies over the years and we’re very happy with its current management. Windrows are long prism-shaped piles. Food scraps are combined with yard waste, everything is ground up and the piles are turned to hasten the natural composting process.
Aerated Static Piles at Patriot Acres
We’re looking forward to being able to haul to Patriot Acres in Des Plaines. The location of this facility will open up more composting opportunities for the communities in the northwest suburbs. This method of composting uses pipes to move air through the material that is being composted. The material biodegrades in place instead of being turned.
More Resilient
This change in the way we operate feels very in line with our decision to become a co-op. Having options for where we can take your food scraps makes us more resilient. Having more than one owner also makes us more resilient. Did you know that 90 percent of our employees that qualify, based on having worked for the company for at least a year, have opted to become owners? We’ve also had many community members including businesses join us in ownership. Are you next?
