Your Trusted Partner for Food Waste Recycling
Grand Rapids Compost provides curbside food waste collection for residents in the greater Grand Rapids area. We turn your food scraps into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. Join us as we contribute to creating a more sustainable planet.
Why do we compost?
Improve Soil Structure & Health
Adding finished compost to the soil can improve soil structure, creating better aeration and drainage, preventing erosion, and improving moisture and nutrient retention.
Reduce the Need for Synthetic Fertilizers
Finished compost acts as a natural fertilizer containing essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that aid in plant growth.
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Composting reduces methane emissions — a potent greenhouse gas that causes climate change — as methane-producing microbes are not active in the presence of oxygen.
From Food Waste to Nutrient-Rich Compost
Food waste collected from you and your sustainably conscious neighbors is brought to our composting site just south of Grand Rapids.
We put the materials into small piles with wood chips, straw and leaves. The piles are turned regularly to aerate as the materials break down. We utilize a process called vermicomposting that utilizes worms to help break down the food waste. After the material composts for a few months, the piles become hospital to red worms. Worms and “good” microorganisms continue to to break down the food waste and inoculate the compost in the process. Once it has reach a final stage the compost is black, crumbly and finely textured. The final product is a nutrient dense, microbial rich soil amendment high in nitrogen and trace minerals used to improve soil structure, water retention, and fertility.
Every six months, curbside service subscribers are eligible to receive a bucket of finished compost. Add the compost to your garden and give your plants a boost!