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Closing the Loop on Composting

6/25/2026

What Park Ridge Residents Need to Know Right Now

Composting is one of the most powerful things we can do for our soil, our water, our community, and our climate. But in Illinois right now, the composting landscape is genuinely complicated — and as your neighbors and fellow stewards of this town, we want to give you a clear picture of what's happening, what's reliable, and what the best choices are for your household.

The State of Composting in Illinois

People have been working hard to expand access to food scrap composting statewide, and real progress is being made — but the truth is that infrastructure to handle all organic materials consistently and at scale isn't fully there yet. That gap matters, because when materials end up in the wrong system, they don't break down as intended. They contaminate.

The most pressing example of this is compostable packaging.

The Compostable Packaging Problem

You've probably seen the labels: "compostable," "certified compostable," "made from plants." They sound like good news. The reality is more complicated.

Most compostable packaging — even products certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) — requires industrial composting conditions to break down: specific temperatures, moisture levels, and processing times that your backyard bin and most municipal programs simply can't replicate. At home, these products often persist. In curbside programs not specifically equipped for compost processors, the packaging can cause contamination that may downgrade or reject entire loads of otherwise recoverable organics.

Our Recommendation: Compostable packaging goes in the regular waste bin for now. We know that feels counterintuitive — but in the current Illinois system, that's the honest, science-backed answer. When our regional infrastructure catches up, we'll say so.

Your Three Best Options — In Order

Think of this as a hierarchy. The closer to home, the better.

1. Compost at Home

This is always the cleanest loop. When you compost fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, lawn clippings, and yard materials in your own backyard — through a heap, tumbler, or bin — those nutrients return directly to your soil. Nothing is transported. Nothing is processed elsewhere. The carbon stays local.

If you haven't started yet, it's easier than you think. Go Green Park Ridge and the EPA can help you get set up.

2. The Urban Canopy — Local. The next best option.

For items that don't belong in backyard bins — meat, bones, oils, dairy, and more — The Urban Canopy is an excellent option. They deliver a bucket to your door and pick it up on a regular schedule. Short transport distance, strong composting infrastructure, and a business we're proud to support.

In addition to residential service, Park Ridge offers area drop-off locations currently managed by The Urban Canopy for free drop-off of acceptable food scraps for composting.

See The Urban Canopy's full list of accepted materials: https://www.theurbancanopy.org/resource-articles/composting-best-practices

3. Park Ridge Curbside Yard Waste + Food Scrap Pickup (via SBC)

The city offers food scrap pickup with yard refuse through SBC's seasonal ride-along program. This could be a meaningful step forward for our community. We think it’s great that more and more residents are diverting food scraps from landfills— just remember, we recommend compostable packaging should still go in the regular bin, even with this option.

SBC provides a list of acceptable items (though it remains unclear to the public whether the processor they have indicated is accepting material beyond your grass clippings, leaves and brush.

When in Doubt, Keep It Local

The core principle is simple: the shorter the loop, the better. Food scraps that stay in your yard feed your soil. Food scraps that stay in Park Ridge feed our community's green spaces. The further organics travel — and the more they get mixed with materials the system can't handle — the more value is lost.

As the industries sort out compostable packaging and Illinois builds out its compost infrastructure, we'll keep you updated. In the meantime: compost what you can, (If it grows, it goes!), aim to choose the closest loop available to you, and it’s best to leave compostable packaging out of the compost bin.

Go Green Park Ridge is committed to sharing honest, science-grounded guidance as the composting landscape in Illinois evolves. We are closely following developments in state organics policy.

Helpful reading:

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Easy Street Pizza Goes Green: Park Ridge Restaurant Launches Composting Program to Transform Food Waste into Soil

6/22/2026

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Partnership with The Urban Canopy and Go Green Park Ridge Diverts Food Scraps from Landfill.

PARK RIDGE, IL – June 2026 –

Easy Street Pizza, a beloved neighborhood restaurant in Park Ridge, is taking decisive action against food waste by launching an innovative composting program in partnership with The Urban Canopy and Go Green Park Ridge. The pilot initiative diverts the restaurant’s food waste stream—including patrons’ leftovers and kitchen scraps—away from landfills and back into enriched soil that will nourish communities and landscapes throughout Illinois. This commitment reflects Easy Street Pizza’s recognition that environmental stewardship and neighborhood sustainability are essential values for businesses today.

The composting program represents a meaningful shift in how restaurants can operate responsibly. Rather than sending valuable organic materials to landfills where they decompose anaerobically and release methane—a potent greenhouse gas—Easy Street Pizza’s food scraps are now composted aerobically, capturing and sequestering carbon while creating nutrient-dense compost. This simple shift delivers outsized environmental benefits while addressing critical local needs.

Composting Delivers Real Environmental Wins

Composting offers multiple climate and conservation benefits that address urgent environmental challenges:

Water Conservation: Compost acts as a natural water retention system in soil, improving its ability to hold moisture and reducing the need for supplemental irrigation by up to 25%. As water scarcity becomes an increasingly pressing concern, this water-holding capacity is vital for sustainable agriculture and landscaping.

Carbon Sequestration: Composting aerobic organic material prevents methane emissions and stores carbon in the resulting humus, which can remain stable in soil for decades. A single restaurant’s composting efforts may offset multiple tons of CO₂ equivalent annually.

Soil Fortification: Compost restores essential nutrients and microbial diversity to depleted soils, strengthening their structure and productivity. This is especially critical in an era of fertilizer supply chain disruptions and rising input costs, making locally produced compost an invaluable resource for food security and agricultural resilience.

The timing of Easy Street Pizza’s initiative could not be more important. Recent global fertilizer shortages and price volatility have underscored the fragility of conventional agricultural supply chains. By returning organic matter to local soil through composting, Park Ridge is building resilience and reducing dependence on imported synthetic inputs—strengthening both food security and environmental health.

A Collaborative Community Effort

Go Green Park Ridge, the community-driven sustainability initiative, worked to design and implement this pilot program with Easy Street Pizza and The Urban Canopy. By bringing together a restaurant, a business focused on urban composting, and a grassroots community group, the partnership demonstrates how local collaboration can drive meaningful environmental progress at the neighborhood level.

“Go Green Park Ridge is excited to partner with The Urban Canopy and Easy Street Pizza & Beer Garden on the city’s inaugural commercial composting pilot program,” says Andrew Dordek, Go Green Park Ridge member and compost advocate. “Owner/operator Nick McGeary immediately embraced this waste diversion initiative that turns food scraps into a beneficial soil amendment. As we collect and assess data, we look forward to helping influence more commercial composting projects within our community—where a dedicated organics waste stream becomes the norm, not the exception, for food and beverage businesses.”

Supporting Restaurants That Support the Earth

Easy Street Pizza’s composting commitment is an invitation to patrons to be part of the solution. When diners choose restaurants that prioritize composting and waste reduction, they directly support businesses that are reducing their environmental footprint and strengthening local soil health. In a time of climate uncertainty and resource constraints, these choices matter.

Food waste is a global crisis—approximately one-third of food produced worldwide is wasted, along with all the water, land, and resources embedded in its production. At the restaurant level, Easy Street Pizza’s composting program tackles this challenge head-on, preventing valuable nutrients from being lost and instead returning them to the earth where they belong.

“We are thrilled to partner with Go Green Park Ridge and Easy Street Pizza & Beer Garden,” says Adam Schwartz, Compost Club Coordinator at The Urban Canopy. “In just the first week, we collected 100 lbs of compostable material from Easy Street—equivalent to preventing 260 lbs of CO₂ emissions. At this rate, Easy Street will reduce their climate impact by the same amount as growing 101 tree seedlings for 10 years. By choosing restaurants that take composting seriously, customers become partners in building a more sustainable food system.”

About Easy Street Pizza
Easy Street Pizza is a Park Ridge institution known for quality ingredients, community engagement, and neighborhood pride. The restaurant’s commitment to composting reflects its belief that businesses have a responsibility to operate in ways that benefit the environment and strengthen the communities they serve.

About The Urban Canopy
The Urban Canopy partners with communities and organizations to scale composting programs that divert organic waste from landfills and create local soil amendments. Through innovative collection and processing, The Urban Canopy helps neighborhoods build circular systems that benefit both the environment and local gardens, farms, and landscaping projects.

About Go Green Park Ridge
Go Green Park Ridge is a community-led initiative dedicated to advancing sustainability practices at the neighborhood level. The organization works to reduce waste, promote conservation, and build partnerships between residents, businesses, and local organizations that share a commitment to environmental stewardship and climate action.

Media Contact
Jen Panattoni
Good Stuff Marketing Co.
[email protected]
For interviews, questions, or additional information about the Easy Street Pizza composting program, please contact Jen Panattoni.
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Closing the Loop on Composting

What Park Ridge Residents Need to Know Right Now

Easy Street Pizza Goes Green: Park Ridge Restaurant Launches Composting Program to Transform Food Waste into Soil

Partnership with The Urban Canopy and Go Green Park Ridge Diverts Food Scraps from Landfill.

PARK RIDGE, IL – June 2026 –

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Closing the Loop on Composting

​What Park Ridge Residents Need to Know Right Now

Easy Street Pizza Goes Green: Park Ridge Restaurant Launches Composting Program to Transform Food Waste into Soil

​Partnership with The Urban Canopy and Go Green Park Ridge Diverts Food Scraps from Landfill.​PARK RIDGE, IL – June 2026 –

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Archives

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What Park Ridge Residents Need to Know Right Now

Partnership with The Urban Canopy and Go Green Park Ridge Diverts Food Scraps from Landfill.

PARK RIDGE, IL – June 2026 –