Peace, Love, and CompostNow

4/6/2013

Forgive me Earth for I have sinned. It's been, actually, never since I had a compost pile in my back yard. I love to garden. I love to cook. I love fresh fruits and vegetables. Yet I have been throwing out my kitchen scraps.

I have plenty of excuses. Heat + rotting vegetables = flies, and lots of them. Plus I don't want to encourage raccoons and their ilk. Each season I vow to find the perfect enclosed compost bin: secure, easy to turn, easy to access, and aesthetically inoffensive. Somehow I never find it.

But that's all behind me. I have found CompostNow.

CompostNow is a local urban composting organization. When you sign up, you're basically outsourcing your composting - you get all the benefits without the unpleasant smells or wild animals. Here's how it works.

I pay CompostNow $25 each month.
They give me two empty buckets.
I spend the week filling them with kitchen debris. Vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grinds, tea bags, paper towels, even chicken bones - they all get dumped in.
Every week, a nice young man driving what I can only assume is a bio-fueled vehicle picks up the full bins and gives me two new ones.
They compost my garbage.
I get their compost.

It's the perfect symbiotic relationship.

Ron's signature Italian eggplant (left) and chicken (right). Disclaimer: no onion, garlic, eggplant, or chicken skins were thrown away in making this dish.

I love CompostNow, and it's not only because I can now hold my head up high (or at least not slink away in shame). I love it because it's fast. I signed up in mid-January, and by the end of March I had already earned my first compost delivery. Maybe that's not as fast as ripping open a bag of Black Kow, but it sure is faster than making compost in my back yard.

Urban composting is hardly new, but since I generally don't discover a trend until I read about in the history books, I had not realized how widespread it was. CompostNow, which serves the Raleigh/ Durham/ Chapel Hill area, will soon be expanding into Asheville (I know - what took them so long?) and Charlotte. The D.C. metro area has something called Compostcab. And there are similar organizations all across the county; this link shows some of them.

Peace, love, and CompostNow. Now that's a slogan I can get behind.

14 Comments

Laurrie link

4/6/2013 03:37:45 am

Great idea! We compost, but it seems I never have enough, or it's not finished when I need it, and the whole production system of my composting efforts doesn't produce what I need. Your urban system is efficient and effective -- I love learning about ideas like this that can actually work.

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/6/2013 07:40:52 am

It really is a great idea. Whoever thought it up is pretty darn smart.

Holleygarde link

4/6/2013 08:42:08 am

How interesting! That does seems a lot easier! I have a hard time getting my compost to the right balance, since my husband also adds to it.

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/6/2013 08:48:43 am

I know - trying to figure out the right balance on top of everything else is more than I could bear. That's why I'm happy I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Jason link

4/6/2013 08:42:36 am

What a brilliant idea! I would sign up in a minute if it were here. Please come to Chicago CompostNow!

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/6/2013 10:54:15 am

There's got to be something like it in Chicago. If it's in Raleigh, it's in Chicago, right?

Joan link

4/6/2013 12:35:30 pm

That's a great idea! I live in a rural area, and have no trouble with creatures getting into my compost, and have help (husband) dragging everything out there, and got the compost bin cheap through the town... and still my compost is awful. I'm too lazy to stir it, so nothing ever decomposes. I end up burying what amounts to garbage right in the garden, under a layer of leaves or horse manure. It might be worth $25 a month for someone to do it for me. I think I'd overflow that container, though.

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/6/2013 09:55:42 pm

My mother used to do that - bury corn cobs, banana peels, etc. right in the soil. And her soil was great. But I agree that the whole composting thing is a mystery - some say you don't need to turn it, others swear you do, etc. As for the bins, you can have two of them for $25, although if you like to cook you still might overflow them.

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden link

4/7/2013 12:28:05 am

Here is the Toronto area we have city green bins. We compost our kitchen scraps and they turn them into compost for free. ( Well, not really for free. We pay for it in our taxes!) The green bins are not perfect- residents have to fend off racoons by storing them in a garage, or in our case, a garbage storage bin. Not all our neighbours bother to participate (despite the fact its is free and good for the environment). It is not a perfect system, but I am glad we have the option.

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/7/2013 01:07:05 am

You're lucky (except the taxes part). I think they are doing this in some U.S. cities - San Francisco, maybe? Does it give you enough compost for your garden, or do you need to supplement?

commomweeder link

4/7/2013 01:16:12 am

There are many ways to get compost! Hooray for CompotNow. Our local Bridge of Flowers puts all its trimmings in a compost dumpster shared with a couple of small restaurants. Keeps down the flies!

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/7/2013 01:21:37 am

Yes, but to me, this is the best way to get compost! I don't even have to lug a huge bag around the garden anymore. Bridge of Flowers sounds great, but what do they do with the compost? Do they give it away or use it?

Casa Mariposa link

4/8/2013 12:28:21 am

I make worm compost but wish I had an outdoor composter so I could make more. I also wish Compost Now came to me since I'm outside of the Compost Cab's area. But hooray for you! Better late than never. :o) I'm really impressed they take meat/animal scraps.

Galloping Horse Garden link

4/8/2013 01:19:29 am

I am surprised about the animal scraps, too! It's a shame Compost Cab doesn't come to your area. No one ever seems to have enough compost when they make it on their own.

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Peace, Love, and CompostNow

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