Community Corner
Green-Thumb Alert: Score Free Compost In Foster City
Get in line, gardeners: Bring shovels, gloves and containers. Save the dates, and your planting beds will thank you later.
FOSTER CITY, CA — Foster City, along with RethinkWaste and Recology, will be hosting two free compost pick-up events this fall for local residents.
In appreciation of resident participation in the CartSMART yard trimmings and organics collection program, the joint partnership is teaming up to give away free compost to city residents on two dates this upcoming fall season, Saturdays Sept. 7 and Oct. 5, 2019.
The events will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or as long as supplies last, at Boat Park, located at the intersection of Foster City Boulevard and Bounty Drive in Foster City, according to organizers.
Find out what's happening in Foster Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Residents, equipped with shovels, gloves and containers, may take up to 1 cubic yard of compost at no charge (about six full garbage cans).
In addition to the give-away events listed above, Foster City residents can get free compost year-round at Shoreway Environmental Center. Residents simply need to go to the scale house (accessible via Gate 1) and show proof of residency in the form of a utility bill or identification card to the attendant to be directed to the Transfer Station where they will then be provided with up to two 3-cubic feet empty paper bags for the compost. Residents need to fill and load the bags themselves, according to city officials.
Find out what's happening in Foster Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The "Compost Giveaway" closes the recycling loop, managers said, as the compost is from yard trimmings, collected at the curb and composted at an area facility.
"Yard trimmings make up more than half of California’s municipal waste," the city said. "Compost is the valuable, nutrient-rich soil product that results from the controlled decomposition of organic material. Compost is ideally used as an amendment to enrich soil for lawns, gardens, ornamental plants, trees, and potted plants."
In addition to curbside yard trimming collection, free home-composting workshops are offered by San Mateo County. Learn more here: www.smcsustainability.org/waste-reduction/composting.
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