The Scoop on Compost Supply: We got you in 2022

To make sure bulk and bagged Garden Green® compost is available for sale in spring—our busiest season, we won’t be making compost available for sale in fall of 2021.

Creating compost is a long game because the process itself takes nine months of careful tending. We begin with food scraps delivered to WLSSD’s Organics Composting Facility from grocery stores and restaurants, mixed with yard debris and branches from residents and landscape companies.

There’s no rushing greatness.

The compost mix is “made fresh daily” with whatever food scraps are delivered, so naturally the COVID-19 pandemic impacted WLSSD’s compost site operations when restaurants dialed back production. Our residential food scrap drop sites saw increases in usage during the pandemic, but the increased volume from households wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the reduction from the commercial sector. We began to see the reduction in finished compost about a year after the start of wide-spread restaurant shutdowns. Although we quickly tweaked our compost recipes to incorporate more leaves to offset the dearth of food, the process still requires the juicy, nitrogen-rich food scraps.

Another factor impacting the site are the routes run by large national retailers. In the past, WLSSD received food scraps from a chain with stores across northern Minnesota. They now have a new food scrap collection contractor with new routes that don’t always end in Duluth!

Lastly, in a big win for the Earth but maybe not so much local gardens, our composting compatriots in Wisconsin have expanded in recent years, adding capacity to compost cheese curds aplenty. Some food processors in northern Wisconsin have been able to divert their scraps to closer Wisconsin facilities rather than WLSSD, saving fuel, emissions, and money. It’s an overall great thing, but highlights the volatility in local “waste sheds,” or how waste is moved and managed across regions.

So hold tight, dear garden amenders, we’ll have literal TONS of compost ready for you—in spring of ’22!