Curious About Compost? Recycling Coordinator Stacey King Breaks it Down

If you've ever seen the lot behind Davis Hall, you might have observed what appears to be giant rows of dirt surrounded by forklifts and, well, more dirt.  It's not just dirt, actually. It's compost, made up leaves, grass, and other bits of plant life, collected by the city of College Park and put through a decomposition process, making it usable once again.  Patch asked College Park's Recycling Coordinator and resident compost expert Stacey King to explain a little bit about the basics of composting:

Patch: What gets composted?

Stacey King: The city of College Park does leaves, and grass and other non-woody yard waste. We don't deal with any food waste or anything like that, it's just what comes out of your yard, off the lawn and off the trees.

Patch: So how does it get from the lawn and the trees to the compost facility?

SK: From January to October, we pick up leaves curbside from outside residences on the same day as their refuse or recycling, so we have a requirement that everyone has to set out yard waste, either in paper bags or reusable containers. We pick it up using one of our trucks here, and transport it back here. In the fall the main leaf dropping months, November and December, we have several leaf vacuums that we send out, and residents can rake their leaves to the curb when we're going to be in the area.

Patch: How much material does this facility digest on a yearly basis?

SK: In the fall we accept leaves from other municipalities, so if we consider all the material that we're getting, I think it's around 1,500 tons. But it can vary a lot depending on what type of autumn we're having. The amount of leaves that are dropped from year to year can be different.

Patch: What exactly is compost used for?

SK: People use to it amend their existing garden beds and their existing soil. It kind of help put nutrients back in there. A lot of people use it for their veggie gardens or their flower beds. There's a wide variety of applications that people use it for. It has pretty much the same uses as a top soil product.

Patch: What's the weirdest thing you've pulled out of an unscreened pile of compost?

SK: I did find half of a Smart Trip card, an intact rubber ducky…I've found a baby doll leg.

Patch: That's really creepy.

SK: Yeah, that was kind of weird. And I had someone call and tell me that she found a fully intact Beanie Baby. It survived the whole process and it was totally blackened, but she still knew exactly which one it was. It makes me understand that there needs to be more education on what not to include in your yard waste.