The Village of Oak Park | 123 Madison St.  Oak Park, IL 60302 | village@oak-park.us

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Composting program diverts organic waste from landfills

The Village offers a food scrap composting program to residents who wish to reduce the amount of organic refuse sent to landfills.

Currently, 1,063 households participate in the Village program that provides a special 96-gallon mobile cart for organics, an under-sink collection bucket and a box of compostable bags for food scraps.

The cost is $14 per month, which is about the same as recycling one bag of yard waste per week under the current Village-wide yard program that does not accept food scraps and requires a $2.45 green sticker be attached to each bag or barrel. Subscribers who use the organics cart for their yard waste as well as food scraps do not need yard waste stickers for grass clippings and other gardening waste since it can go right into the organics cart.

Residents who maintain backyard compost piles or mulch grass clippings are urged to investigate sharing organics carts and costs with neighbors.

Food scraps and food-soiled paper make up about 35 percent of what residents throw away, which is the largest unrecycled portion of the residential waste stream.

Residents can sign up for the Village's composting program online. For more information on the program, call 708.358.5700 or email compostable@oak-park.us.