Composting is one of the simplest and most impactful actions you can take for the environment, your garden, your community. Composting reduces greenhouse gas emissions and waste sent to local landfills. Finished compost makes your soil (and food) healthier by conserving water, reducing soil erosion and the need for synthetic fertilizers

Our organization is designed around a circular economic model incorporating the entire local food cycle. Our farm in Auburn Gresham grows produce that is sold at farmers markets and in our CSA box, and used in the products made at our kitchen. Our compost collection service ensures any potentially wasted nutrients are returned to the soil and used to grow healthy food again!

We’d suggest your buckets are exchanged in one of the following locations: 1) With the front desk or doorperson  2) In a mail room or trash room  3) In front of your unit door (only if former locations are not allowed). Please check in with your building to see what your options are.

If you miss your driver on pick up day, no worries! The driver will leave you a fresh bucket and we can get both full buckets at your next regularly scheduled service day.

If you want to cancel a pickup because you’re out of town, no problem! Notify us at least the day before your scheduled service day and we will cancel your stop and add a credit to your account. You can easily skip and un-skip stops in your Member Portal.

No! You can cancel your subscription or change frequencies at any time, just send us an email at compost@theurbancanopy.org or message us via your Member Portal.

All materials  are transported to be processed into finished compost at the Harbor View facility on the south side of Chicago in the Deering neighborhood. Food scraps are composted using the windrow composting method, which is one of the best methods for large quantities of compostable material, as it is a form of "hot composting”. This method effectively and quickly breaks down a wide variety of materials, including BPI Certified compostable items, like the bags that we line our buckets and totes with. The piles are checked for contamination and managed extensively, and when they are done breaking down, the finished compost is tested for levels of nutrients and any contamination like heavy metals.

After this point, it is certified by the US Composting Council, marking it as a highly nutritious, totally organic finished compost! We are very proud of the fact that our entire process is taking place within the immediate Chicago area- all of our scraps are picked up in Chicago and the near suburbs, everything is processed within the city limits, and we are one of only a few distributors of entirely locally produced finished compost in the city.