We have just updated our list of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials for Inclusion in Our Compost Buckets, which can be viewed on this website at https://www.gbcompost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Greener-Bay-Compost-Acceptable-and-Not-Acceptable-Materials-List.pdf, or through our link at the bottom of our homepage.

The changes that have been made can be summarized as follows:

We now accept, without reservation, any and all products labeled as BPI-Certified Compostable. To find items certified as such, or to find out of items you buy or are considering purchasing are certified as such, please visit https://bpiworld.org/Find-Certified-Products.

We have updated our wording on Acceptable ashes to clearly state that not only are ashes made from untreated, natural wood Acceptable, but that those made from the type of plain/matte paper and cardboard we have always accepted are Acceptable as well.

We have updated our wording with regard to coffee grounds to indicate that we accept ALL coffee grounds, whether used/spent or not.

We have updated our list to clearly state that we not only accept egg shells, but whole eggs as well (whether raw or cooked/hardboiled).

We have updated our wording with regard to used/spent potting soil to reflect that we would like any rocks/stones in the soil (typically found in the bottom of it) removed from it prior to it being added to our buckets, as well as added rocks/stones to the Not Acceptable side of our list.

We have updated our wording with regard to pumpkins to request that tea lights be removed from pumpkins (Jack o’ Lanterns) prior to them being provided to us.

We have officially added the following materials to the Acceptable side of our list, although we have already been accepting them for quite some time now:

• Fish skins
• Seeds
• Pits (such as from avocados)
• Jack o’ Lanterns
• Planer shavings made from untreated, natural wood
• Scobies (such as from kombucha production)
• Shrimp shells

We have added bamboo brush handles to the hard wood category of materials we do not accept.

We have updated our wording with regard to large volumes of liquid being Not Acceptable to clarify that the liquid that naturally leaks out of decaying food (such as watermelon, strawberries, lettuce leaves, etc.) is perfectly fine, as it is expected, but that large volumes of other liquids (as in, those artificially-added to our buckets) are still Not Acceptable.

We have added sourdough starter to the Not Acceptable side of our list as, after having advised a few subscribers it was okay to include it in their buckets and after having received it on several occasions in the past several months, we have come to the conclusion that the negatives of accepting this particularly sticky material far outweigh the benefits, due to how difficult it makes it for us to sort through buckets containing it.

Finally, we have added wine/bottle corks to the Not Acceptable side of our list as, despite our best efforts in the past several months to compost the corks, the corks have proven themselves to be non-compostable via the composting process we use.

Please note that with regard to the new additions to the Not Acceptable side of our list, most notably bamboo brush handles, rocks/stones, sourdough starter and wine/bottle corks, we will not be penalizing anyone for the inclusion of these materials in any buckets we pick up between now and 4/30/22.

That said, if any of these materials are found in buckets picked up on 5/1/22 or later, we will be applying either our normal half-pound penalty per individually identifiable Not Acceptable material we find, or, as is often the case when dealing with rocks/stones or large volumes of liquid, deducting the actual weight of the Not Acceptable material, whichever is greater, from the weight of the related bucket contents, per our Loyalty and Waste Reduction Rewards Program.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of these updates/changes to our list of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials, please let us know by using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.