Changes to Our Composting Service
**PLEASE READ!!**
We asked our composters to complete a quick 4 question survey. Their feedback has enabled us to rethink our Composting Service and provide some minor changes:
1. DROP OFFS: We received several requests for additional drop off days. Drop offs will still occur at our expansion location, however, drop off days will now be Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. We would deeply appreciate it if you could limit drop-offs to these three days only, as it helps us to maintain an organized system for washing and dumping buckets weekly. This is especially important during the summer months when we do not want buckets remaining in the heat for too long, as they begin to stink.
2. POUNDAGE TRACKING: We had one suggestion of enabling community members to know how much compost they are giving. Beginning April 1st, we will have a notebook in the grey cabinet underneath the shelter at our expansion labeled 'community compost record' where individuals may document their own compost weight. There will be a scale on the table under the shelter for you to weigh your own compost and document it in the notebook. We can use this data to send out individualized monthly/annual compost totals for those who whish to know how much compost they are collecting.
4. COMPOSTING DONATION: Thank you for your feedback on this new idea. Most of you had no problem with an annual composter donation. We have decided that when new community members sign up for this program, they now have the option to make a $10, $15, or $20 donation to cover bucket costs. In addition, when you donate, you can select "annual" so that your contributions is renewed each year. If you want to help us cover our maintenance costs for this service with an annual donation, there's a nifty donate button below! We understand that many of you appreciate the "free" aspect of this program, and we don't want to make any changes that will be a burden on anyone. So this change to the program is highly encouraged, but is entirely optional. We did receive comments on more transparency of what donations will actually be used for. Here is what we are referring to when we say "maintenance costs":
- Each year, we experience an increase in the amount of community members who register for our Composting Service. This requires more buckets as well as bucket labels (labels make things easier for new composters who sign up and need instructions on how to compost), all of which we must pay for (and surprisingly, buckets aren't too cheap!). Not to mention, each year we "lose" buckets, when community members do not return them. We must account for these costs each year. Those of you who have composted with us long enough have probably experienced a time when you stopped by the garden to drop off your compost, and there were no buckets for you to take with you! We don't want that to keep happening!
- In addition, despite our awesome volunteers who willingly tackle the fun compost odors to make sure our community has clean buckets each week, we still require consistent paid help to execute this program and fill the gaps when our volunteers come and go. Our part time paid helpers not only keep the gardens well maintained and functional (so that composters can get FREE produce on market days), but ensures the Composting Service is also functional. Again, if you've composted long enough with us, you've probably experienced a time when you came to drop off your bucket, and there were no clean buckets to take: we were probably too short-handed at the time to have the buckets dumped and cleaned for you. Having paid help this past season was a huge benefit to preventing those occurrences. So labor is another important part of "maintenance costs", especially since our composters are steadily increasing each year. On the other hand, if you'd be interested in volunteering to help with our compost program (and help lower those maintenance costs), please reach out! We can always use the extra hands!