Together we are building a more resilient Park Ridge by composting. For more info, and to see the ca-utest  video that Go Green Park Ridge Member Nicole Burmingham and Family created,
​click HERE! 

More to come in our Compost Spotlight series. Stay tuned.

Go Green Park Ridge is proud to spotlight our neighbors COMPOSTING! This interview is part of a series raising awareness of reducing wasted food, seeing the various opportunities to compost right outside our doors and inspiring each other to keep making a difference. 

Join us in becoming better stewards of the soil, partners in sustainability and proud participants in a greener future. Together we are building a more resilient Park Ridge by composting.

What got you into composting?
I had been interested in it for a while, so I researched the different opportunities for composting. I hadn't really decided on my final plan, and then my kids gifted me my composting bin, which was working great. The difficulty with the worm composting bin, is that the worms could not eat as much food as I wanted to give them. So, this year, we bought 2 sets of worms, and they still can't keep up.

Please describe any aha moments when you began composting?

• Composting is pretty easy!
• It was great to see how much stuff we deem as waste not actually going in the garden and having a productive 'end of life'. 
• You can't just put food scraps directly into a container and call it composting - you need the dry 'ingredients' too. I generally use cardboard pieces without ink on it, dry leaves, etc.
• It's been great to manage my 'overflow' food scraps by bringing them to the location in Uptown Park Ridge by the triangular parking lot near the train station when my worms can't go through all of the food scraps I have! With the community composting site, I've noticed that sometimes the bin is full, which is great to see so many people in Park Ridge participating in an opportunity to reduce food waste!
• It's exciting to use your own compost in your yard to make your trees, bushes, garden, etc. healthier.
• I was surprised to see that my worms multiplied over time. I never directly counted them, but it was clear to see that the number increased. 

How long have you been composting?
Formally, I've been composting with worms for a little over three years. Before then, I was finding ways to leverage the food waste from coffee and tea grounds in my home garden to reduce the waste from those materials.

Do you have advice for new folks on how or where to begin?

• Start small, make it easy - you don't have to begin with worms and your own composting bin at home if that feels daunting. It's great that we now have access to a community composting bin.
• Use an opaque, sealed leftover container to put your food scraps in - I use a coffee grounds canister - and if you want to reduce the smell if you're collecting scraps over the span of a few days to a week, consider putting it in your fridge or freezer. This reduces the sights and smells, and then I just drop off these excess scraps at the community composting site on the way to the farmer's market or any trips I have to make through Uptown.
• If you do decide to begin the adventure of at-home composting, note that there's a difference between what you can compost in your at-home bin versus what you can compost at the community site. At the community site, you can compost scraps such as cheese, meat, bones, and coffee filters; at home, none of these items should be composted. There's more to the science than this, but ultimately, it gets down to the fact that bigger composting piles have a higher internal temperature as opposed to smaller composting piles (like those at home), which is why certain things can be more easily composted at community piles or in commercial facilities, where those are available.
• I think it's important to clarify what composting actually means and what the end result of compost looks like. Composting is a process to help decompose food scraps into compost - while the initial food scrap themselves may smell (which is why it's best to keep them in the fridge or freezer while you're collecting), once you put them in with the worms and the scraps don't smell, because they are being broken down and processed by the worms. The end result of compost is an earthy, dark soil colored and smelling, nutrient-dense output that you can spread on your soil. Composting does NOT mean you just spread food scraps around on the soil.

Any advice to help Park Ridge increase participation in composting?

• Spread the word! Tell your family, friends, and neighbors that we have this great opportunity, and that it's easy. It helps make the world a better place for you, your kids, your grandkids.
• If you're interested in at-home composting, but doing it by yourself feels like a lot, consider asking your neighbors if they're willing to share a composting bin and responsibilities with you!
• I hope that the city can continue to promote awareness of our community composting as well, as it's an incredible resource we have access to and should be taking advantage of.
• Get your kids excited about it and participating at home so they're scraping their food scraps from their plates into your bin that you drop off at the community site, or if you're at-home composting, I'm sure they'd love to learn about the worms.
• If it feels like too much to manage your own composting bin or to have to drop scraps off at the community site too, there are other services that you can look into where they give you a big bucket and you can collect scraps and a service will come collect it after a period of time. I can't speak to this from experience, but want to make sure people know there are alternatives and other resources if they need.
• I can't help but think that if we take care of the earth, earth will take care of us too. <3

What motivated you to begin composting?
I was motivated to start composting years ago when I saw how much food scrap waste we had that could be kept out of a landfill and be turned into something good for the earth!  I first tried backyard composting, but I found that it wasn't the right fit for our family since we kept filling up our compost area quicker than it was breaking down.  One of my brothers was using a composting service (that picked his up from the lobby of his condo) and told me how easy it was, so we signed up too! 


Please describe any a-ha moments when you began composting.
The amount of things that can be composted with the compost service is amazing! It's not just fruit/veggie scraps but meat/fish/dairy waste, greasy pizza boxes, & certified compostable cutlery/paper towels/napkins to name a few...it really does reduce the amount of waste you have to put in a landfill! It has become a natural habit for our family to compost-so much so that my ten year old recently asked where the compost was when we were on vacation. :-). 

How long have you been composting?
We have been composting for about 8 years.  We use Collective Resource Compost Cooperative, and it couldn't be easier, especially since Park Ridge has a community program with them (which makes it cheaper for us than it used to be)! We keep a small covered step can (lined with a compostable bag: bio bag brand) in the kitchen and transfer it out to a 5 gallon covered bucket that the service provides us with. They swap out our 5 gal bucket every week. The weekly pick up is perfect for our family of 5 and very affordable: less than a dollar/day. If we host a holiday or a party, and we know we're going to have more compostable waste than usual, I order an extra bucket for that week.  I'm planning on doing this for our upcoming block party!  

We have not had any major issues with bugs or animals. We don't freeze our compost, but you can if you're worried about smells, bugs, etc. A tight lid on the outside bucket prevents any curious neighborhood animals from getting in. 

Do you have advice for new folks on how or where to begin?
Check out the Collective Resource's website:  Composting in Park Ridge IL | Collective Resource Compost Cooperative and sign up today-you'll feel so good doing something good for the earth!

Any advice to help Park Ridge increase participation in composting?
I think GGPR is doing a wonderful job with programs & getting the word out!  I see communication from the school district emails with green tips encouraging re-using school supplies, recycling, and trying to have low waste lunches! The GGPR social media posts are great too!  I think the library programs are also awesome because they're reaching the population of people that maybe don't have school age kids and may not be on social media. 

I think the biggest hang up for people is that they think it's going to attract bugs/rodents.  I also think people who live in apartments and condos don't always realize they can use the service too!

What motivated you to begin composting?
We started when we lived in Colorado, where there were strong eco-friendly vibes. It sounded like a win-win way to keep food waste out of the landfill while generating free fertilizer for the garden.

Please describe any a-ha moments when you began composting.
On the weeks where we don’t compost (and just throw all the vegetable scraps in the garbage), the kitchen garbage gets MUCH stinkier MUCH faster!

More recently, I figured out that a bale of straw next to the outdoor bin is great for balancing out the wet green (high-nitrogen) kitchen scraps with some dry brown (high-carbon) material, to keep a healthy green:brown ratio and help aerate the scraps.

How long have you been composting?
So long that I can’t remember exactly when we started. Over 20 years?

Do you have advice for new folks on how or where to begin?
There’s no one right way to compost; don’t let anyone tell you you’re doing it wrong. Start small, experiment with different techniques, and find something that works for you.
​
Any advice to help Park Ridge increase participation in composting?
Make it easy, and make it popular. Maybe work with schools to get kids interested, and then those students can convince their parents to try it.

What motivated you to begin composting?It was a mix of falling in love with gardening, discovering the science behind soil health, and wanting to turn our family’s waste into something useful. It just seemed crazy to throw away food scraps, paper towels, and even sending away yard waste like fallen leaves when they could all be put to work right here in my own garden!

Please describe any a-ha moments when you began composting.
While reading about composting—probably on Reddit—I came across the phrase “everything rots.” That took a lot of the pressure off of “getting it right.” If the pile isn’t super active, gets too dry, too wet, or a bit smelly, there are always ways to bring it back on track. No matter what, the materials will eventually break down into compost one way or another.

How long have you been composting?
We just started this spring! I’m especially looking forward to adding more fruits and vegetable scraps once we collect fallen leaves in the fall—that will help balance out the high nitrogen and moisture content from the scraps.

Do you have advice for new folks on how or where to begin?
Check out composting books from the Park Ridge Library, talk to friends or family who compost, and visit the EPA website for getting started. You don’t need fancy gear—a pile works just fine. I started with an expandable Geobin my brother gave me, and later bought another for $35 to start a second pile. You can also repurpose materials like untreated pallets and chicken wire.

Any advice to help Park Ridge increase participation in composting?
We need to shift our mindset, starting in our own backyards. Many of us are disconnected from where our food comes from and from the vital role soil health plays—not just in growing food, but in reducing rainwater runoff, erosion, flood risk, and pollution. Composting was once common before synthetic fertilizers became widespread; we should normalize it again. Instead of buying bags of soil, mulch, and chemical fertilizers, we can nourish our soil with compost we make ourselves.

And, not to state the obvious, but citywide compost pickup would be a game changer. If compost collection were part of regular trash and recycling services, it would make participation possible for everyone—regardless of income, physical ability, or comfort level with backyard composting. Many cities already do this; it would be amazing if Park Ridge and nearby communities followed suit.

Thanks to all the volunteers and patrons of our 2nd Native Plant Sale in conjunction with Maine East. We almost sold out and made about $4000 to be split with Maine East Ecology Club. 

Native plants are important to help rewild our urban and suburban communities. Habitat loss is a major cause of massive declines in bird, butterfly and pollinator populations. Native plants provide habitat for birds and insects. Birds depend on insects as baby birds cannot eat bird seed! Planting even a few native plants in your yard can help our ecosystem heal and give our wildlife places to live. Native plants are drought resistant and don’t need extra watering once established. 
​
And of course you don’t want to poison the critters you are attracting to your yards so stay away from chemical fertilizers and weed control. 

Today’s Woodlands Cleanup was another big success! Around 125 volunteers collected 60-70 bags of trash at five sites! A big thank you to all who participated.

- District 64 Green Teams were at Axehead Lake
- Park Ridge Kiwanis, Maine South Key Club, and Lincoln Service Club were at Devon & Dee
- Go Green, Troop76, Pack 201 & stragglers were at Dam No 4
- Park Ridge Wilderness Scouts & Princess were at Belleau Lake
- Brownies were at Traeger Picnic Area