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Compost for Good

Compost for Good

Reimagine Waste

Our vision is a world in which humans positively impact the Earth and its communities by valuing organic waste as a resource.

Our mission is to support communities to adopt economically viable and ecologically resilient composting systems and processes through education, outreach, technical support, peer to peer connections, and research.

What We Do

Compost for Good (CfG) supports the composting goals of individuals, businesses, municipalities, innovators, institutions, and organizations through technical assistance, product and feedstock research, strategic development, and the fostering of a community composting culture. 

How do we do this?

Site visits; soil and compost analysis through microscopy; presentations; marketing templates; grant writing and administration; project design and implementation; education/outreach campaigns; publications; individualized strategy development.

We start with the question, “How can we help?”

Why Community Composting?

The food system is too often seen like this:

Growing leads to Harvesting leads to Transporting leads to Retailing leads to Eating leads to Disposing

When we rely on a linear food system:

  • an estimated 60 billion pounds of food waste ends up in the landfill each year
  • farmers often have to rely on synthetic fertilizer (or organic fertilizer shipped in from afar)
  • the “start” (growing food) and the “end” (disposing of food waste) are disconnected.

This disconnection indicates a broken system.

If, instead, we are building systems that look more like this:

Growing leads to Harvesting leads to Transporting leads to Retailing leads to Eating leads to Composting leads back to Growing

…we are building an interconnected, intact, inherently more resilient food system.

Our Work in the North Country

Although we have worked to support composting around the world, the North Country of New York State is home to our team and many of our Community Compost projects.

Our Progress

1
pounds of food waste and other organics composted each year
1
pounds of greenhouse gas emissions prevented each year
1
community-scale composting sites created in the North Country

Our Progress

1
pounds of food waste and other organics composted
1
pounds of greenhouse gas emissions prevented
1
community-scale composting sites created in the North Country
Compost for Good

Resources

Your Composting Toolbox

Small-Scale Composting

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Support this work

by making a gift to the Compost for Good project fund

Bring Compost for Good to Your Community

The Compost for Good team is committed to working with communities across the Adirondacks to help make drum composting facilities available. Consulting and advice is available outside of the region as well. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

How big is the drum? Current design is 4-foot diameter, 20-foot long. The composters are designed to fit inside of a 40-foot shipping container, allowing them to be placed in a parking lot or otherwise close to where food waste is generated. The composter can also be housed in an existing structure.

What goes in? Unsorted food waste including meat and dairy, other organics, and a carbon bulking material (e.g.: wood chips, sawdust, wood shavings, etc.).

How much waste can one composter process? This  composter was sized to process about 35,000 pounds of unsorted food waste per year. This is roughly the amount of waste that a community of 250 generates through the course of a year. (Under certain conditions, the composter can accommodate up to 50,000 pounds of food waste per year.)

How long does it take to turn waste into a resource? Though it depends on the materials and other conditions, this process can happen in just a few weeks’ time.

How can I get the free design guide and operating manual? The design for this composter, operating manual and supporting documents are free and available to anyone who is interested. It is a relatively simple design and we hope through collaboration with other communities and organizations we can continue to adapt the design to meet a variety of needs all across the Adirondacks and beyond. 

How much does this composter cost? We have designed this composter to be simple, with material costs of $15,000, with hope of finding ways to reduce the cost even more. The labor cost will vary whether an individual does the construction or whether the labor is hired out.

What kind of support does this project offer? We want more communities to have access to what we have learned through years of experimentation, as well as the technical support, educational tools and essential information that is needed to make composting more effective and community efforts more successful. Whether through setting up site visits to observe a composter in action, a phone call to discuss viability of this design for a specific area, or assistance to find funding, we want to support Adirondack composting efforts. We can also put you in touch with others in our region who can build the composter and deliver it to you.

Why “Compost for Good”? It is our hope that this initiative will provide individuals with business opportunities, and organizations and communities with better waste management solutions leading towards a more regenerative Adirondack food system and more resilient communities. 

Together, we can compost for good!

News and Events

Compost for Good

Compost for Farms

Compost for Good’s Compost for Farms program is working directly with farmers to increase the biology in soil through the use of high value, biologically robust compost. Learn about the

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