Composting programs in towns, businesses, schools, and homes are popping up all over Maine. This should be no surprise given the many environmental and economic benefits well designed and managed composting programs can have. From reducing the need for landfill space and lowering municipal solid waste (MSW) program costs to remediating contaminated soils and lowering greenhouse gas emissions, composting is a proven and effective tool for eliminating wastefulness and protecting the environment. Explore the resources below to learn more about the value of composting and how you can start to compost in your home, business, city, or town.
(REMEMBER: You should always first reduce your waste, or feed people or animals with edible food before composting. For more food recovery strategies, visit our page on Food Waste.)
Why Choose Composting?
Organic Materials Don’t Belong in Landfills: Sending our organic waste, like food and yard waste, to landfills or incinerators is unsustainable. We need to move beyond the idea that our waste simply goes “away” and instead look for smart, effective ways to close the loop on our consumption patterns. Composting is nature’s way of recycling and returns nutrients to the soil to be used again.
Composting is Good for Soil and Water Quality: The composting process encourages the production of needed micro-organisms that help break down matter into nutrient-rich humus, a material that helps soil retain moisture. The composting process can eliminate or mitigate a broad array of toxic materials and compounds in contaminated soils. Further, it can reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and can lead to higher crop yields.
It Can Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Reducing the volume of organic materials that ends up in landfills can reduce the amount methane, a potent greenhouse gas, released into the atmosphere. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind the US and China.
Composting Can Reduce Solid Waste Management Costs: Compostable organic materials are the most prevalent and heaviest component of most municipal solid waste streams. Reducing the volume of this material reduces weight-based disposal costs, and save money.
Composting Programs Create Jobs: The growing interest in composting and the need to separate our organic waste from the rest is resulting in new jobs to collect and process the material. Composting is good for the environment and good for business.
Composting Companies in Maine
There are fantastic companies in Maine that make composting very easy and affordable. Those listed below offer a subscription-based service with regular pick up of your organic materials. They provide the bins, and some can even supply you with the finished compost! If you use a composting company that you would like us to consider adding to this list, please let us know by emailing nrcm@nrcm.org.
Other Composting Resources
- Maine Guide to Recovering and Composting Organics in Maine: An excellent resource from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection
- Maine’s Compost School
- Biocycle: A national composting and organics recycling information hub.
- US Composting Council: Provides a wealth of resources and facts about composting in the US.
- MIT Sloan School Report on Residential Curbside Composting Programs: Simply addresses common questions and concerns about municipal composting programs.
Home Composting Resources
Home composting is the most economical and environmentally sustainable way to manage household organic waste. Doing the work yourself, and preventing your organic materials from travelling to a compost site, saves money on any transportation and processing fees and reduces collection vehicle traffic and pollution. If you have a garden and the desire to maintain your pile, then you can easily have a successful composting program at home. If you’d prefer that a great company come to your house and pick up your food scraps and turn them into compost for you, then you are in luck, too! Here are some resources to get you started:
