Free compost for healthier county communities

Lane County Waste Management has been awarded a USDA grant to support the distribution of free food-waste compost to the community. The new Community Compost program will address a missing element in the current Lane County food waste reduction plan: ensuring that an increasing supply of commercially produced food-waste compost is accessible to more county residents, particularly in historically underserved communities. 

The program aims to serve all Lane County residents and agricultural producers, with a focus on disadvantaged communities. It will provide up to 5,000 tons of free compost to Lane County residents and agricultural producers and host four Free Compost Day events each year (8 events total). 

The Community Compost program also addresses EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy. Lane County, in collaboration with city partners and local haulers, is already working on the top food-recovery-hierarchy strategies by promoting food waste reduction, food donation, and feeding animals through public education campaigns to residential and commercial sectors and is only promoting commercial food waste hauling and composting services for food waste that cannot be prevented or recovered. Promoting compost application and free access to compost will reinforce the county’s closed loop of organic material.