Backyard Compost Guidelines

Why Is Composting So Important? 

1. Our landfills won’t fill up as fast
2. Turns food scraps into healthy soil that can be utilized in many ways
3. Helps prevent plant diseases
4. Reduces the need for fertilizers and chemicals
5. Conserves water
6. Reduces greenhouse gas emissions/prevents pollution that contributes to global warming/climate change. 
   • When food decomposes in a landfill with no oxygen, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that traps 84% more heat than carbon dioxide. Keeping food and landscape waste from the landfills reduces methane gas. Scientists attribute the rise in global temperature to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the last 100 years.

 There Are Various Ways to Compost!

Take a look at the different composting options available and learn more about the amazing things composting can do, not only for the local community, but for the planet! Share this information with your families and neighbors. Composting is a powerful solution to many issues we face today. Practices like composting can decrease our footprints on this planet and elicit a significant change.

• Backyard/At-home Composting: SWALCO has sold backyard compost bins at reduced prices for several years. Leaves and other yard material are some of the building blocks for good compost, and you can divert your food waste from the landfill at the very same time.
  • HOW TO: Backyard composting can be done easily in just a small spot or corner in your yard. Collect fruit and vegetable scraps and mix them with yard trimmings and other organic materials in an outdoor compost bin or pile. If you don't have space for a pile or the inclination to maintain a bin, consider lasagna or sheet gardening. You can build a layered compost pile right where you plan to plant. This results in healthy, fertile soil right from the start. The thin layers make for an easy process, which requires no watering or turning. Or, you can also simply bury the scraps directly in your garden. This method, often referred to as "trench composting," is an extremely easy method. Further, you don’t have to garden to compost at home or on-site. You can compost for the environmental and social benefits alone. We do believe that a contained bin is the ideal composting method for an urban, residential area like Lake County.
• Indoor Composting: Vermicomposting and Bokashi are excellent options for those who live in apartments or small spaces. These methods utilize a small bin with worms or an anaerobic process involving fermenting to break down organic material.
• Commercial Composting/Curbside Pick-up of Yard and Food Waste: Residents in numerous Lake County communities have options and programs for curbside yard and food waste pick-up. Avon, Ela, Fremont, Lake Villa, Shields, and Warren Township also have formal programs in the unincorporated regions. Meat, bones, and dairy are accepted in commercial composting programs. Please check with your village, city, or township, along with your waste haulers, to learn about the programs available in your neighborhood.