We do not currently serve Appleton or the Fox Cities (an area which includes not only Appleton, but Combined Locks, Grand Chute, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Little Chute, Menasha, and Neenah, Wisconsin as well). Having said that, we are currently looking into the logistics of serving these areas and will update this website, as appropriate, if/when we expand into them.

1. Once a week (if you’re a Commercial Compost Pickup Service subscriber), or once or twice a month (if you’re a Residential Compost Pickup Service subscriber), we drop off one or more clean, five gallon buckets, with lids (depending on how many you’ve signed up for) in a safe, easily accessible, and agreed-upon area of your property (such as on a front step/patio/porch, in front of a garage, etc.)
2. You place any organic waste you produce, which we consider Acceptable (see our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials for examples), inside your bucket(s), after removing any contaminants (such as stickers, plastic, tape, staples, etc.) from it.
3. You place your full/semi-full bucket(s), with lid(s) snapped on top, in the agreed-upon area of your property, prior to your next scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup date/time (www.GBCompost.com/Events).
4. We pick up your full/semi-full bucket(s), as scheduled, in exchange for  a new, clean, five gallon bucket (or buckets).
5. We weigh your bucket contents and update the Greener Bay Compost Leaderboard to reflect the total poundage you’ve diverted from landfill.
6. We add your organic waste to our compost piles at our compost site in the Town of Lessor, where it will become a nutrient-rich soil amendment known as compost, for use in local gardens, flower beds, and agricultural operations, which we then reward our Residential subscribers with, donate to worthwhile causes, and sell to the general public (at www.GBCompost.com/Compost).

For more information on our full suite of Compost Pickup & Drop-Off Services, please visit our Services page.

It’s actually very simple!

1. Once you’ve signed up, we contact you to make arrangements for your initial bucket pickup (which will always take place in a well-lit, public location in west Green Bay of Greener Bay Compost’s choosing, for the safety and security of everyone).
2. We meet you, at the location described above, on a date and at a time agreed upon by you and Greener Bay Compost, to provide you your first Food Safe, five gallon bucket(s).
3. You place any organic waste you produce (see our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials for examples), with any contaminants (such as stickers, plastic, tape, staples, etc.) removed, into your bucket(s), rather than throwing it in the trash or recycling it.
4. You contact us (using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact) to notify us (with at least 24-48 hours notice) of your desire to have a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup performed for you, up to (2) times per month.
5. We meet you at a well-lit, public location in west Green Bay (as mentioned above), again, on a date and at a time agreed upon by you and Greener Bay Compost, to exchange your full/semi-full buckets for new, clean, Food Safe, five gallon buckets.
6. We weigh your bucket contents and update the Greener Bay Compost Leaderboard to reflect the total poundage you’ve diverted from landfill.
7. We add your organic waste to our compost piles at our compost site in the Town of Lessor, where it will become a nutrient-rich soil amendment known as compost, for use in local gardens, flower beds, and agricultural operations, which we then reward our Residential subscribers with, donate to worthwhile causes, and sell (at www.GBCompost.com/Compost).

For more information on our full suite of Compost Pickup & Drop-Off Services, please visit our Services page.

Currently, we perform the majority of our Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups using a dark gray Toyota Sienna minivan. On occasion, we also utilize a smaller, more fuel-efficient silver Chevy HHR.

Yes.

In August of 2022, we launched our Residential Compost Drop-Off Service, which utilizes a well-lit, public location in west Green Bay for Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups, and is ideal for apartment-dwellers and/or anyone who resides outside of our Residential Compost Pickup Service’s service area.

For Residential Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Service pricing, visit www.GBCompost.com/Residential.

For Commercial Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Service pricing, visit www.GBCompost.com/Commercial.

Please note: All of our pricing is subject to change at any time.

First and foremost, we fully support anyone who wishes to compost at home, especially whereas our founder started Greener Bay Compost out of his backyard. That said, composting, whether at home or elsewhere, is not “free,” in the any sense of the word, in that it is a both very time-consuming and labor-intensive activity, which not everyone wants or is able to engage in.

At Greener Bay Compost, we put in all the time and the effort, plus “the dirty work,” for our subscribers by picking up their organic waste and composting it for them, so they can spend their time on something they enjoy more than composting, such as their families, hobbies, or businesses, while still reaping all the sustainability-related benefits of “composting at home.”

When someone signs up with us, they:

• No longer need to worry about spending potentially hours every week turning, watering, and otherwise managing their compost
• No longer need to worry about composting in our humid summer heat or our harsh Wisconsin winters
• No longer need to worry about injuring themselves while composting
• No longer need to worry about their compost not turning out the way they’d hoped it would
• No longer need to worry about “offensive odors” emanating from their compost
• No longer need to worry about their compost attracting rats, insects, or other pests
• No longer need to worry about attracting the “wrong kind of attention” from nosy neighbors who don’t take kindly to their composting in their neighborhood
• No longer need to worry about being cited for Municipal Ordinance violations over the aforementioned “odors,” rats, etc.

It should be noted that most Municipalities have ordinances on the books that make it very risky to compost on even a small scale in ones own backyard, let alone at the scale our founder was composting at in the first six months of Greener Bay Compost’s existence (in his very own backyard).

Accordingly, while composting in ones own backyard may seem “cheaper” than paying for our services, the reality is that our Services are not only extremely inexpensive in general (especially when one considers that we are literally the only company that does what we do within 60 miles of Green Bay), but also remove all the risk and hard work associated with composting for our subscribers, for less than what most people spend at Starbucks or on streaming services each month.

Still think it’s cheaper to compost at home?

Because providing your organic waste to us, as opposed to tossing it in the trash is:

• Better for the environment, in that our compost process produces little to no methane (a greenhouse gas 20x more potent than carbon dioxide), as opposed to landfills, which is where all your trash goes, and which are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States.
• Better for our local community, in that our compost process will convert what would have been waste into a valuable soil amendment, which will help grow more food locally and make our communities more resilient in the face of things like pandemics, inflation, economic recessions, and rising gas prices.
• Better for our collective wallets, in that, by keeping this waste out of our local landfills, we can delay building new landfills, which will be very expensive and likely paid for with our tax dollars.

Our Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Services can potentially save you money, but whether they do will depend, in large part, on how much organic waste your household or business tends to produce each week.

According to a Wisconsin DNR (Department of Natural Resources) “Waste Characterization” Study released in September 2021, three of the top five materials (by weight) found in Wisconsin landfills include wasted food that was formerly edible, food preparation scraps that are not traditionally edible (i.e.: peels, bones, and shells), and “compostable paper,” which is typically paper products that cannot be recycled, such as facial tissues and used paper plates.

In terms of numbers, the DNR found that “organics” (such as food waste) and paper (including “compostable” paper items), such as the kind found on the Acceptable side of our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials, make up more than half of the material in our landfills.

This means that as much as half, if not more, of the materials you throw in the trash each week could be composted by us. Accordingly, if you were to have us compost them for you, you would find yourself filling your trash bags far more slowly, which would, in turn, result in you buying fewer trash bags and making fewer trips to your outdoor trash can/bin/dumpster over time, thus saving you both time and money.

Furthermore, by diverting your organic waste from landfill to our compost piles, you would also be slowing the rate at which our local landfills fill up, thus pushing back the timeline for when we, as a community, would need to build new ones (which are, for the record, very expensive to build and operate),  and potentially saving us all a substantial amount of taxpayer funds, especially when your personal impact is combined with that of our other subscribers.

Another potential cost-savings you could experience as a subscriber of ours could come as a result of you realizing how much edible food you waste each week, which could result in you changing your shopping habits or learning how to preserve your food for later (via canning, pickling, freezing, dehydrating, etc.), thus saving you money and making your household more resilient in terms of food security.

Please note that many of our subscribers, after using our Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Services for only about a month or so, have not only remarked that their trash cans/bins/dumpsters are far less smelly (due to none of the usual, rotting food going into them), but that they’ve also been able to replace them with cans/bins/dumpsters and bags half their size.

To learn more about the ways composting can benefit us in ways far beyond our bank accounts, please see our answer, on this FAQs page, to the question, “What are the benefits of composting?” in the “About Composting” subsection.

Yes. We provide our Services year-round, because organic waste is a year-round issue and we don’t stop composting, even during our harsh Wisconsin winters.

On that note, we would like to point out that not only is it possible to compost outdoors in sub-zero temperatures, but that we do this every year.

If you are an individual or a family (rather than a business, school, or some other type of organization), you will want consider our Residential Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Services.

Our Residential Compost Pickup Service is ideal for homeowners and/or those living in single-family households, while our Residential Compost Drop-Off Service is ideal for apartment-dwellers and/or anyone who resides outside of our Pickup Service’s service area.

If you are a business, which can be served with five gallon buckets, you will want to consider our Commercial Compost Pickup Service.

PLEASE NOTE: All of our plans are very flexible, in that you can “Add a Bucket” for how ever many months you need the extra bucket(s), and then subtract the buckets if/when you determine you no longer need the extra bucket(s).

We highly recommend our Residential Compost Drop-Off Service to anyone who lives in a multi-unit residential building or complex, especially if they live on the second floor (or higher) or reside in a building that non-residents must be “buzzed” into, as this Service bypasses the need to need to leave our buckets outside for us, as well as avoids potential conflict with building/complex managers/owners/landlords.

That said, some multi-unit residential building/complex managers, owners, and landlords are very supportive of us and our Services. As such, and assuming you can obtain approval from them to participate in our Residential Compost Pickup Service (which would see us performing Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups outside of your own private, numbered door, assuming you have one), we would be happy to see you participate in that Service instead.

Yes.

In August of 2022, we launched our Commercial Compost Pickup Service, which was designed for businesses and organizations that can be served with five gallon buckets.

We do not currently serve any businesses that cannot be served with five gallon buckets, such as, for example, ones that would require us to utilize large trash bins/cans/toters or dumpsters to serve them, as we have not yet acquired the type of equipment that would be necessary to transport, dump, and clean such large containers.

Having said that, we would like to serve such businesses and will update this website, as necessary, when/if we do begin to serve them.

We can serve schools, with our Commercial Compost Pickup Service,  if they are able to be served with five gallon buckets.

Not yet, but this is something we are looking into offering in the very near future. We are particularly interested in providing composting services to weddings and large, banquet-style events.

Currently, we perform our Residential Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups exclusively on Sundays, starting at 8:00 AM Central Standard Time (CST) and continuing until we’ve completed all of our scheduled Bucket Swaps/Compost Buckets for any particular week.*

We perform our Commercial Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups exclusively on Tuesdays, between the hours of 7:00 AM and 6:00m PM Central Standard Time (CST).*

* These days and times are subject to change.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the ever-changing nature of our subscriber count and the evolution of our Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup routes, we cannot guarantee that Bucket Swap/Compost Pickups will be completed at any particular time of day, or at the same time of day each week.

When a new subscriber to our Residential Compost Pickup Service or Commercial Compost Pickup Service receives their first compost bucket(s) from us will be determined by several factors, including (but not limited to):

1. The date and time the new subscriber signed up with us
2. Which of our existing routes the new subscriber best fits into
3. Assuming the new subscriber is a business, whether we have had an opportunity to perform an initial site visit with the Business to determine the best location for Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups to be performed at and obtained any necessary permissions to access buildings we may need to access to facilitate said Swaps/Pickups.

When a new subscriber to our Residential Compost Drop-Off Service receives their first compost bucket(s) from us will be determined by what date and time we agree to meet the subscriber at to deliver their first bucket(s) to them (in a well-lit, public location in west Green Bay of our choosing).

It should be noted that we also have what we call the “5 PM cut-off” at 5:00 PM Central Standard Time (CST) every Saturday (for Residential Compost Pickup Service subscribers), and every Monday (for Commercial Compost Pickup Service subscribers), which new Residential and Commercial Compost Pickup Service subscribers must meet or beat to potentially receive their first bucket the very next day (due to all of our Bucket Swap/Compost Pickups currently occurring on Sundays, for Residential subscribers, and Tuesdays, for Commercial subscribers, as can be seen at www.GBCompost.com/Events).

If a new Compost Pickup Service subscriber meets or beats this cut-off (and, in the case of our Small Business subscribers, assuming we have agreed upon their bucket drop-off location), they will potentially receive their first bucket(s) on the following Sunday or Tuesday (which could be the very next day).

If, however, a new Compost Pickup Service subscriber misses this cut-off by even a minute (for example, if they don’t subscribe to our Residential Compost Pickup Service until 5:01 PM on a Saturday, or to our Commercial Compost Pickup Service until 5:01 PM on a Monday), it may be impossible for them to receive their first bucket the next day and we may need to ask them to wait for upwards of almost two whole weeks to receive their first bucket, unless we can agree to alternate arrangements.

The reason we impose such a cut-off on our Compost Pickup Service subscribers is because there must be a point at which we stop taking on new Compost Pickup Service subscribers relative to any given Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup route, so as to allow us an appropriate amount of time to finalize our Compost Pickup Service routes. With no such deadline, we could potentially have new Compost Pickup Service subscribers signing up with us a literal minute before our drivers start their routes, which would create a logistical and customer service nightmare for us.

The simple answer is yes, however, for anyone to benefit from any Rewards Programs we may offer, they must be an active subscriber to one of our Compost Pickup or Drop-Off Services, with no payments for such services past due/in arrears. Additionally, it should be noted that if a subscriber voluntarily cancels or otherwise terminates their subscription with us, their statistics and earnings, as detailed on the Greener Bay Compost Leaderboard (which is what we use to keep public track of Rewards earnings), will be reset to “0” (meaning they will need to “start from scratch” with us, for in the event they choose to resubscribe with us at a later date).

Compost Discount

All Residential and Commercial Compost Pickup Service subscribers (and their employees, if they are a business) are eligible for a 2o% discount (which may not be combined with any other discounts we may offer, unless otherwise specified in writing) on any of our finely sifted, premium compost they may purchase from us, at www.GBCompost.com/Compost.

Please note: This discount is applied automatically when we invoice our subscribers (or their employees) for compost.

Waste Reduction Rewards Program

All Residential Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Service subscribers have the opportunity to earn free (1) cubic foot bags of our finely sifted, premium compost, based on how much organic waste they help us divert from landfill.

This Program works as follows:

• Every pound of Acceptable material we receive from our Residential Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Service subscribers is kept track of by us, via the Greener Bay Compost Leaderboard.
• The only weight deductions we will be making in calculating the above poundage will be made based on the actual weight of any Not Acceptable materials we may receive (or the weight of an entire buckets contents, for in the rare instance of total-bucket contamination such as if we receive buckets containing large amounts of non-naturally-occurring liquids, lawn mower/grass clippings, etc.).
• Once a Residential Compost Pickup or Drop-Off Service subscriber reaches 500 pounds of Acceptable material on the Leaderboard, the subscriber will be eligible to claim a (1) cubic foot bag of compost from us, any time between April 1st and November 30th of the year (which is the time of year when our compost is not frozen), and we will work with the subscriber to arrange for pickup/drop-off of this earned compost.
• This product is the same product we sell at https://www.gbcompost.com/Compost (and which all subscribers, and their employees, if they are a Small Business subscriber, are eligible for a 10% discount on).

Yes. Unless you Contact Us to cancel your Compost Pickup or Drop-Off Services prior to any particular renewal date, your plan will automatically renew every month and the most recent credit or debit card you used with us will be automatically billed, at whatever price we are charging for our Services at the time.

Yes, and you can do so by Contacting Us to let us know of your desire to cancel, in which case we make arrangements with you for your final Compost Pickup and for you to return any of our buckets and/or lids in your possession to us.

Please note, however, that canceling our Services does not, in and of itself, entitle you to a refund, prorated or otherwise, of any funds you may have paid to us.  Whether or not you will be entitled to a refund from us will depend upon several factors, including, but not limited to, whether you’ve returned all of our property to us and how many Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups we have performed for you since your last renewal date.

For more details on our Refunds policy, please see our Terms of Service.

Possibly.

Canceling our Services does not, in and of itself, entitle you to a refund, prorated or otherwise, of any funds you may have paid to us.  Whether or not you will be entitled to a refund from us will depend upon several factors, including, but not limited to, whether you’ve returned all of our property to us and how many Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups we have performed for you since your last renewal date.

For more details on our Refunds policy, please see our Terms of Service.

If our property, whether a bucket or lid, or both, is lost, stolen, or irreparably damaged while in the possession of a subscriber, the subscriber will be charged/invoiced for the replacement cost of this property.

For a new bucket, a subscriber will be charged/invoiced for $15.00.

For a new lid, a subscriber will be charged/invoiced for $5.00.

If an invoice for replacement property is not paid by a subscriber within 30 days of our emailing it to a subscriber, the subscriber may be subject to involuntary termination of their Services, as well as other financial and legal consequences, as per our Terms of Service.

Unequivocally, no.

Because our buckets and lids are our property, and not that of our subscribers, all subscribers whose Services with us are canceled are required, per our Terms of Service, to return any of our property still in their possession to us, by no later than their final Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup day, or our next-scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup day, whichever comes first.

If a subscriber whose Services with us have been canceled fails to return our property to us in a timely fashion, the subscriber may experience legal and financial consequences, in accordance with our Terms of Service.

Before we answer this question, please note that we do have an Email Reminder service available to all Residential Compost Pickup Service subscribers, to help them remember to put their buckets outside for us on their scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days.

You can sign up for our Email Reminder List:

• Immediately after subscribing to our Residential Compost Pickup Service, by entering your email into the sign-up form embedded into the page our website takes you to when your payment to us is successful.
• At any time, by entering your email into the sign-up form embedded into our Events pages.
• At any time, by Contacting Us to request that we manually add you to our Email Reminder List.

Once you’re signed up for Email Reminders, you will receive an email from us the day before each scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup, with a reminder to place your outside for us by no later than 8:00M AM (CST) the following day.

If we arrive at your residence to perform a scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup and find no bucket(s) placed outside for us, we may (but are not required to) send you a text message or email (or both) and/or call you, as a courtesy, in an attempt to have you bring your bucket outside for us.

Should we text or email you, we will allow two minutes for a response. If we receive no response, we will move on to the next stop on our route. Similarly, if we call you and you do not answer, or if we are sent to your voicemail, we will move on to the next stop on our route.

If your Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup is missed in a situation as described above, you may Contact Us to make arrangements for us to perform what we refer to as a “Make-Up Swap” for you, for a $6.50 fee, in a well-lit, public location in west Green Bay of our choosing, on a date and at a time agreed upon by you and Greener Bay Compost.

If you choose to have a “Make-Up Swap” performed for you, you will be invoiced, via email, for the above-mentioned $6.50 fee. Once this invoice is paid and we have come to an agreement on a date, time, and location for your “Make-Up Swap,” we will perform your “Make-Up Swap” for you, as agreed.

If you would not like to have a “Make-Up Swap” performed for you, your only other option is to wait for us to perform a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup for you on your next scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup day.

PLEASE NOTE: Subscribers who miss their scheduled Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups, through no fault of Greener Bay Compost’s, are not eligible for any refunds, prorated or otherwise, relative to said Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups.

If you know, in advance, that you will be unable to place your bucket outside for us on any of your scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, for whatever reason, we kindly request that you Contact Us as soon as possible to:

1. Make us aware of this situation, so we may save ourselves the time, trouble, and expense of visiting your residence, when it is not necessary for us to do so (which helps make our routes more efficient and our costs low for all of our subscribers).
2. If necessary, make arrangements for us to perform what we refer to as an “Early Swap” or a “Late Swap” for you, free of charge, in a well-lit, public location in west Green Bay of our choosing, on a date and a time agreed upon by you and Greener Bay Compost (so you do not need to go more than two weeks, or much more than two weeks, without a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup being performed for you).

If you would not like to have an “Early Swap” or “Late Swap” performed for you, please be aware that you will need to wait until your next scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup day for us to perform a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup for you.

If you know, in advance, that you will be unable to place your bucket outside for us on any of your scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, for whatever reason (as discussed above), and yet do not make us aware of this situation by 5:00 PM CST on the day prior to an affected Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup day, resulting in us making an unnecessary trip to your residence, please be aware that you will be ineligible to have a “Late Swap” performed for you free of charge. Rather, you will have the option of having a “Make-Up Swap” performed for you (as described in our answer to the FAQs question “What if I forget to put my bucket outside for you and miss my Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup?”), which is essentially the same service as a “Late Swap,” for a $5.00 fee.

PLEASE NOTE: Subscribers who miss their scheduled Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups, through no fault of Greener Bay Compost’s, are not eligible for any refunds, prorated or otherwise, relative to said Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups.

Effective 9/21/2022, we no longer accept any materials provided to us outside of our buckets on Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, with the exception of:

• An unlimited number of plain/matte pizza boxes, whether clean or soiled (with all stickers, staples, and receipts removed), which may be stacked beside or beneath our buckets
• Any materials we have specifically authorized a subscriber to provide to us outside of our buckets, in writing
  
• Up to (2) paper or plastic bags, no larger than traditional grocery store bags, which may contain only the following, “high carbon” materials:
  • Plain/matte paper and cardboard items (including, for example, clean or soiled pizza boxes, clean or soiled fast food takeout bags, soiled paper towels and napkins that have not been in contact with chemicals, paper grocery bags, toilet paper and paper towel tubes, egg cartons, newspapers with glossy inserts removed, etc.), with all tape, stickers, staples, and other contaminants removed
  • Fall/autumn leaves (as long as they are not mixed/intermingled with lawn grass/lawn mower clippings, brush, and/or copious amounts of sticks, pine cones, etc.)

Please note that we do not accept receipts, as they are made of toxic thermal paper. As such, they should be removed from any paper bags provided to us, whether inside or outside of buckets. Furthermore, we do not accept “junk mail,” including unopened junk mail envelopes and/or their contents, as “junk mail” takes an inordinate amount of time for us to process/sort, compared to the other materials listed above, and poses a far greater risk of contamination to our compost.

Accordingly:

• Receipts should be thrown in the trash.
• “Junk mail” should be recycled.
• Also, please throw any “Snotty” Kleenex/facial tissues (as opposed to paper towels, napkins, etc. soiled with food) in the trash.

What a subscriber can expect, if they provide material to us outside of our buckets, which should be inside of our buckets

Should we be provided, outside of our buckets, at any time on or after 9/21/2022, materials other than those identified above as materials we accept outside of our buckets, we reserve the right to refuse said materials/leave said materials on a subscribers property, without further explanation (and it should be noted that it is our intent to do so).

If, for whatever reason, we decide to take said material from a subscribers property, despite it having been provided to us in what we consider to be an unacceptable manner, our taking of said materials should not be interpreted to mean that we have changed the above-mentioned policy or made an exception to it.

On a related note, and importantly, we will provide no weight-based credit (under our Waste Reduction Rewards Program) relative to materials provided to us in non-compliance with the above-mentioned policy (regardless of whether we take said materials or refuse/leave them on a subscribers property).

Should we take from a subscribers property a bag of what we initially believe to be filled with acceptable, dry, “high carbon” materials, which we later determine to be filled with a mix/combination of acceptable materials and materials we only accept inside of our buckets (for example, a pile of garden waste covered with or obscured by newspaper or Fall leaves), we will, likewise, provide no weight-based credit relative to the contents of said bag.

In a nutshell: For a subscriber to receive weight-based credit for the weight of the materials they provide to us, the materials must, first, be considered Acceptable by us (meaning they are found on the Acceptable side of our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials) and, second, be either 1) provided to us inside of our buckets or 2) provided to us inside of the up to (2) bags of dry, “high carbon” materials we accept outside of our buckets.

This means that while we reserve the right to accept bags outside of our buckets in excess of the (2) bag limit described above (as we have sometimes done in the past, if the space in our pickup vehicles permitted us to do so), we will only be providing weight-based credit for the contents of (2) bags per each Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup we perform.

Options for subscribers with more waste than can fit in their bucket(s)

Should any Residential subscriber have more organic waste they would like to provide us than what they can reasonably fit inside our buckets or the (2) bags mentioned above, and should they wish to receive weight-based credit for said waste, they can either purchase a Special, One-Time Swap from us or subscribe to our Add-A-Bucket option at www.GBCompost.com/Residential.

Similarly, should any Commercial subscriber have more organic waste they would like to provide us than what they can reasonably fit inside our buckets or the (2) bags mentioned above, and should they wish to receive weight-based credit for said waste, they can Contact Us to discuss adding extra buckets to their subscription.

Please note: There is no limit to how many Special, One-Time Swaps a Residential subscriber can purchase or number of extra buckets a Residential or Commercial subscriber can subscribe for with us.

Options for subscribers who do not wish to pay for us to take their excess organic waste

If a subscriber does not wish to pay for a Special, One-Time Swap or an Add-a-Bucket subscription (which, it should be noted, supports us/helps us stay in business, grow, and expand), they have a few other options when it comes to what they can do with their excess organic waste:

Assuming the excess waste is considered yard waste by the subscribers Municipality, the subscriber may be able to take said waste to their local yard waste site, free of charge (please note that most Municipalities consider garden waste/refuse to be yard waste).

• Green Bay Yard Waste information: https://greenbaywi.gov/YardWaste
• Allouez Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofallouezwi.gov/depts/public-works/yard-waste-and-waste-oil-drop-off-site/
• Ashwaubenon Yard Waste Information: https://ashwaubenon.gov/government/departments/public-works-streets/yard-waste-disposal/
• Bellevue Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofbellevuewi.gov/departments/public_works/garbage__recycling___yard_waste/yard_waste
• De Pere Yard Waste Information: https://www.deperewi.gov/topic/index.php?topicid=278&structureid=88
• Hobart Yard Waste Information: https://www.hobart-wi.org/public-works
• Howard Yard Waste Information: http://www.villageofhoward.com/174/Yard-Waste-Removal
• Ledgeview Yard Waste Information: https://www.ledgeviewwisconsin.com/departments/public-works/yard-waste/
• Suamico Yard Waste Information: https://www.suamico.org/departments/public_works_engineering/yard_waste_site.php

Assuming the excess waste is food waste, the subscriber may save the waste for a later bucket by freezing it (such as in a gallon-sized freezer bag), or, if absolutely necessary, dispose of it in the trash (although this is something we do not support doing, for obvious reasons)

Please note: It has been illegal in the State of Wisconsin, since 1993, to dispose of yard waste (including pumpkins, potted plants, etc.) in the trash. For more information, visit https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/287/II/07#:~:text=Beginning%20on%20January%203%2C%201993%2C%20no%20person%20may,waste%20facility%20in%20this%20state.%20%283%29%20Waste%20tires.

If you have any questions or concerns about the above, you may contact us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Yes.

When we receive dry, “high carbon” materials in bags separate from our buckets, this provides us with more options with regard to shredding such material for composting.

When such materials are placed inside of our buckets, where they are mixed and intermingled with wet materials, this makes them wet, which makes it difficult or impossible to shred them using automated shredders and necessitates us hand-tearing the materials to optimize them for composting (which is extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive).

Accordingly, we very much appreciate when subscribers provide us with dry, “high carbon” materials in paper or plastic bags beside our buckets, in accordance with our policy on materials provided to us outside of our buckets.

Yes, and so are our BPA-free bucket lids.

Our compost buckets are FDA-certified, made of prime high density polyethylene (HDPE), and BPA-free. They meet the requirements for polyolefin resins intended for food packaging applications as described in the FDA olefin polymer regulations 21 CFR 177.1520(c)3.2(a).

This resin may be used in contact with all types of foods as defined in Table 1, 21 CFR 176.170(c) and under conditions of use B through H as defined in Table 2, 21 CFR 176.170(c).

Absolutely, yes.

We use BioBag® bags, which are Certified Compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute (and meet the US Standard ASTM D6400 and the European Standard EN 13432 standard specifications for solid material biodegradation).

These bags are made from plants, vegetable oils, and compostable polymers and have also been verified by the Non-GMO Project. Accordingly, they are 100% safe for us to compost, alongside the rest of the materials we accept.

If you are interested in buying some of these bags for yourself, possibly for use in a kitchen-top compost bin, you can find them in our Recommended Products list.

To control odor and help absorb moisture.

Unfortunately, no, because we do not produce our own wood shavings/sawdust, but rather obtain them, free of charge, from a local firewood producer, who produces them as a by-product of his firewood production, and thus have a very limited supply of them (which is quite seasonal in nature).

Assuming we were able to sell additional wood shavings to someone, it should be noted that we would be unable to compete on price with companies that actually produce wood shavings, or are in the business of selling them (which we are not).

That said, should any subscriber of our needs additional wood shavings/sawdust to assist them in controlling odor and/or absorbing moisture inside our buckets (especially during the hot, summer months), we recommend buying wood shavings/sawdust in bulk, in the form of animal bedding (which is commonly made from pine), from local hardware or home improvement stores, such as Menards, Fleet Farm, Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply, etc.

In our experience, bulk products produced for horses tend to be far less expensive per pound, than, for example, similar products produced for small animals (such as rabbits or guinea pigs). As such, we highly recommend buying bedding that has been produced specifically for horses, such as wood shavings or pellets.

PLEASE NOTE: Menards often offers an 11% Rebate on in-store or online purchases that can dramatically effect the bottom-line price paid for bedding, and Home Depot will match this rebate, assuming they sell the same product as Menards. That said, we highly recommend checking to see if Menards is offering their 11% Rebate prior to making any bedding purchases, and then comparing their price, per pound, with the Rebate taken into account, to the per-pound bedding price available at the other stores mentioned above.

Because there isn’t much difference in the products these different companies sell, it makes no sense to pay more for it, when one can pay sometimes far less simply by “shopping around” a little.

While we sincerely hope that nothing will happen so as to prevent us from providing our Service to our subscribers, unfortunately, things outside of our control could conceivably occur, which could result in it being impossible or too dangerous for us to perform Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups on a particular day. Accordingly, we suggest you review the Services section of our Terms of Service for more information as to how we intend to handle situations such as this.

Yes, any time you make a payment to us, you should receive an emailed invoice/receipt from our secure payment processor, Stripe, reflecting the products or services you’ve paid for as well as the amount you’ve paid us.

If, for whatever you reason, you do not receive the invoice/receipt you should, or if you would like a copy provided to you, you may request a copy of any invoice/receipt by Contacting Us. You may use our Manage My Subscription page to download copies without needing to contact us, if you so desire.

Please note: If you use our Manage My Subscription page, you will need to enter the email you provided to us when you made your purchase with us and will then receive an email, which will provide you with a security code that you must enter to access your subscription information.

When you enter the code, you will be taken to a subscription self-management page where you can download the document(s) of your choice.

If you have any trouble using our subscription self-management option, please Contact Us.

Yes. If you need to update/change the number, or the expiration date and/or CVC code, of the credit or debit card you used to sign up for any of our Compost Pickup or Drop-Off Services, you can do so by Contacting Us or by visiting our Manage My Subscription page.

Please note: You should never send credit or debit card information to us (or anyone else, for that matter), via email or text message, as these communication methods are not secure. If you insist on providing your new information to us personally, rather than using our Manage My Subscription page, we recommend you call us at 920-819-0446 and speak to a live Greener Bay Compost representative (who will likely be our founder, Cory Groshek) to provide this information.

Please do not leave this confidential information in a voicemail.

If you prefer to use our Manage My Subscription page to provide your new credit or debit card information to us, you will need to enter the email you signed up with and will then receive an email, which will provide you with a security code that you must enter to access your subscription information.

When you enter the code, you will be taken to a subscription self-management page where you can make any or all of the updates/changes as described above.

If you have any trouble using our subscription self-management option, please Contact Us.

We may, on a case-by-case basis, accept donations of certain types of materials we consider Acceptable, from non-subscribers, but typically only in situations where there is a large volume of material needing to be disposed of.

For example, because we always have a need for high-carbon materials to balance out the high-nitrogen content of the material our subscribers provide us with each month, we may be particularly interested in large volume donations of the following materials:

• Broken-down cardboard, assuming it is plain/matte and not shiny/glossy (colored is okay), preferably with all tape, stickers, and staples removed
• Waste paper, assuming it is plain/matte and not shiny/glossy (colored is okay), with all tape, stickers, and staples removed
• Newspapers of all kinds (Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Press Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, City Pages, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.)
• Sawdust, wood shavings, or planer shavings (such as those produced as a by-product of firewood production or woodworking) and/or ashes, assuming they are derived entirely from untreated, natural wood
• Dead/fallen autumn leaves, assuming they are not mixed or intermingled with grass or lawn mower clippings (which we do not accept, due the risk of herbicide/weed-killer contamination), and assuming they have been bagged for us

We will also consider donations of clean pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and corn stalks, which are items we run an Annual Pumpkin Drive to collect from our subscribers each year between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

If you would like to donate a large volume of any of the above materials to us, or have questions about other materials we may accept in the form of a donation, please Contact Us.

As per our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials, we only accept products labeled or referred to as “compostable” if they are properly labeled as BPI-Certified Compostable.

The logos or icons to look for on compostable products should look something like the below:

To search for BPI-Certified Compostable products by company or product name, visit: BPIWorld.org/Find-Certified-Products

To search for TUV-Certified Compostable products by company or product name, visit: TUV-at.be/Green-Marks/Certified-Products

The reason for this policy is that not all products labeled as “compostable” are actually compostable, let alone in in our compost piles, and many companies can, and do, try to take advantage of environmentally-conscious, albeit naive, consumers, by claiming their products are compostable when, in reality, they’re not.

When companies engage in this behavior, it is what is now as “greenwashing,” which Investopedia defines as “the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly.”

Because greenwashing exists, and because our goal is to produce the cleanest, highest-quality compost in as little time as possible, we will not accept any products labeled or referred to as “‘compostable” without independent, third-party verification, such as from BPI or TUV, that the products are, in fact, compostable.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause anyone, but our compost quality and business reputation is the most important thing to us.

Yes, assuming you are a subscriber of ours and can fit them in your Greener Bay  Compost bucket(s) or in the extra (2) bags of “dry” materials (which can be no larger than a typical paper grocery store bag), which we accept beside our buckets.

Dead/fallen autumn leaves are a great source of carbon for our compost, with the exception of black walnut and pecan leaves, which contain a plant growth inhibitor called “juglone,” which we’d rather not into our compost piles. Accordingly, we encourage our subscribers to “top off” their buckets, if they’re not completely full, with any such leaves they find laying around. Just please make sure they are not mixed or intermingled with grass or lawn mower clippings, which we do not accept.

PLEASE NOTE: While we will gladly accept leaves from our subscribers in the manner described above, we will not be making special trips, outside of our regularly-scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, to pick leaves up from anyone, unless the volume of such leaves is large enough to warrant a special trip, the leaves are bagged for us, and we are paid for picking up said leaves.

If you believe you have a large enough volume of leaves, already bagged, that warrant us making a special trip to your home to pick them up, and are willing to pay us to pick them up from you, whether you are a subscriber of ours or not, please Contact Us and we can discuss options.

We do not accept lawn grass of lawn mower clippings because the risk of herbicide/weed-killer contamination in these materials is unacceptably high, and unlike many compost producers (including most Municipalities that produce compost from yard waste they collect), we are very concerned about the quality of the compost we produce.

Also, please note that most Municipalities, including those in the areas we serve, have yard waste sites where materials like lawn grass and lawn mower clippings, leaves, brush, and branches may be disposed of, free of charge:

• Green Bay Yard Waste information: https://greenbaywi.gov/YardWaste
• Allouez Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofallouezwi.gov/depts/public-works/yard-waste-and-waste-oil-drop-off-site/
• Ashwaubenon Yard Waste Information: https://ashwaubenon.gov/government/departments/public-works-streets/yard-waste-disposal/
• Bellevue Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofbellevuewi.gov/departments/public_works/garbage__recycling___yard_waste/yard_waste
• De Pere Yard Waste Information: https://www.deperewi.gov/topic/index.php?topicid=278&structureid=88
• Hobart Yard Waste Information: https://www.hobart-wi.org/public-works
• Howard Yard Waste Information: http://www.villageofhoward.com/174/Yard-Waste-Removal
• Ledgeview Yard Waste Information: https://www.ledgeviewwisconsin.com/departments/public-works/yard-waste/
• Suamico Yard Waste Information: https://www.suamico.org/departments/public_works_engineering/yard_waste_site.php

Please note: It has been illegal in the State of Wisconsin, since 1993, to dispose of yard waste in the trash. For more information, visit https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/287/II/07#:~:text=Beginning%20on%20January%203%2C%201993%2C%20no%20person%20may,waste%20facility%20in%20this%20state.%20%283%29%20Waste%20tires.

We do not currently sell our compost by the truckload and do not have any plans to do so in the near future, however, we do offer a 20% discount on our regularly-priced (1) Cubic Foot Bags of compost, if they are purchased in “bulk” (meaning, ten or more bags are purchased at one time).

Before we answer this question, please know that compost is not soil, but rather a soil amendment, meaning it is something to be added to existing soil or to create a custom soil blend, not to be used alone as a growing medium.

Having said that, how much compost one needs to buy depends entirely upon what one plans to use the compost for and/or how much square footage needs to be covered with the compost.

For example, if one’s goal is to apply a 2″ top-dressing of compost to an existing garden bed, then one will need 0.116 cubic feet of compost per square foot. Accordingly, if one wants to apply said top-dressing to a 4′ x 4′ garden bed, which is 32 square feet, then one would need 1.856 cubic feet of compost to do so.

Someone attempting to do as described above would need to buy (2) of our (1) Cubic  Foot Bags of compost to achieve their desired results, and would still have a little compost left over when finished, for supplementing their garden with through the growing season. If someone wanted to only do a 1″ top-dressing, in the above-mentioned scenario (as opposed to a 2″ top-dressing), then one could afford to get away with buying as little as (1) of our (1) Cubic Foot Bags of our compost.

Having said that, if one wants to do more than simply top-dress a garden bed or perhaps some potted plants, then one may need to buy a much more substantial amount of compost.

If you have any questions about how much compost you may need from us to cover your personal project, please Contact Us for assistance.

Yes.

To amend soil: Work 1–2 inches of compost into the top 3–5 inches of soil.

For growing vegetables: Give your vegetable garden plenty of compost in the fall. Spread several inches of compost
on top of the existing bed, then till it into the soil in the springtime. Put a handful of compost in each hole when you’re planting.
Once plants begin to grow quickly, you can add a half-inch layer of compost around the base of the plants. Provide “heavy
feeder” plants such as tomatoes, corn, and squash with 1/2 inch of compost monthly—this will result in great produce!

For growing flowers: In the spring, loosen the top few inches of annual and perennial beds and mix in a 1-inch layer of
compost. Or in the fall, apply a 1-inch layer of compost as a mulch to protect plant roots from freezing and conserve moisture.

For replenishing soil in potted plants and window boxes: Even the best potting soil gets depleted of its nutrients as plants grow.
To replenish nutrients, add an inch of compost to potted plants and window boxes twice a year. Or, make your own potting
soil using two parts screened compost to one part sand or perlite.

Yes. Unlike many Curbside Compost Pickup Service providers, which outsource all of their composting to local farms or commercial/industrial compost facilities, Greener Bay Compost is a full-service company company, which means we not only pick up compostable materials from our subscribers, but also compost it all ourselves.

No, because the compostable bucket liners we use, which we do, of course, compost, as well as certain types of paper and cardboard we accept for composting, do not meet USDA criteria for “organic inputs”/are not certified for use in organic farming. As such, anyone considering the purchase of our compost for use in a MOSA/USDA-certified-organic farming operation should understand that the use of compost may void their operation’s organic certification.

Having said that, we would like to note that just because another company’s compost is certified organic (whether through an organization such as MOSA, or directly through the USDA) does not necessarily make it a better or more high-quality product than ours.

Compost quality not only has to do with the materials that go into the compost, but the way in which the compost is produced.

Much of what passes as or is sold as “compost” at big box stores, such as Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards, or even at small or local landscape and supply stores or nurseries, is not so much compost as it is mulch (in that is often made up of very large chunks of non-composted wood), and is often filled with inorganic debris and contaminants, including plastic, glass, and metal, judging from many of the 1 and 2-star reviews such products have received online.

Additionally, much of the “compost” sold by small, local compost operations or landscape companies is unfinished, in that it has not been allowed to age long enough to ensure that most of the weed seeds in it have been rendered nonviable and that all the organic materials that went into it have been provided enough time to break down completely. Such compost may contain higher amounts of nitrogen than finished compost should and could damage plants.

Here at Greener Bay Compost, despite our product does being certified organic, we take great pride in eliminating contaminants from our feedstock and screening our finished product to filter out contaminants (and large chunks of wood) that may make it through the composting process, but in producing the highest-quality compost possible. in general.

For a list of the materials we accept from our subscribers (as well as a list of the ones we don’t), please see our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials for Inclusion in our Buckets.

Rest assured, when you receive compost from us, it would be compost that any member of our team would be proud to apply to their own gardens.

In the early days of Greener Bay Compost, our compost was produced in our founder’s backyard, on a residential lot in the City of Green Bay.

As our subscriber base grew, and along with it, the amount of would-be organic waste we were handling each month, we quickly outgrew our humble beginnings. Accordingly, in May 2022 we acquired a nearly-seven-acre plot of agricultural property in the Town of Lessor (Shawano County, Wisconsin), upon which we now perform all of our physical composting.

Under optimal conditions (and weather permitting), our composting process can take as little as 13-14 weeks.

Because we operate in Wisconsin, however, which is well-known for its harsh winters, and because all of our composting is performed outdoors, our process, from start to finish, can take upwards of six months or more to produce a batch of what we would consider finished compost (that is, high-quality, saleable compost, which is ready for use in gardens, flower beds, and agricultural operations).

Accordingly, we do not sell compost between December 1st and April 30th of each year, as most of our compost piles and finished, bagged compost is frozen, or semi-frozen, during such times.

We are not currently hiring, nor do we have any plans to do so, until and unless it becomes absolutely necessary for us to do so. Similarly, we are not currently accepting volunteers. That, however, may change in the near future, and when/if it does, this website will be updated to reflect this and we will also make an appropriate announcement regarding this via social media.

We are currently a two-person operation, and while the work we do is very labor-intensive and time-consuming, we still find it to be manageable, at least for the time being. Should that situation change, however (and we are sure it will, at some point soon), we will consider all available options for bringing in the help we need, including, but not necessarily limited to, hiring employees or engaging volunteers.

PLEASE NOTE: When/if we engage with volunteers, which is something we would do long before we could consider hiring paid employees, we would require all volunteers to sign a waiver of Greener Bay Compost’s liability, legal or otherwise, before we would allow them to work for/with us, as a means of protecting ourselves.

Yes, we are!

You can follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/GBCompost and/or on Instagram at Instagram.com/GreenerBayCompost.

Yes. Please see our Recommended Products list.

No.

Generally speaking, we do not allow visits to our compost site by anyone who with a definite need to be there, for legal reasons, however, we may give a tour of compost site to parties seriously interested in doing business with us.

Please Contact Us at www.GBCompost.com/Contact if you are interested in doing a tour of our compost site for the purpose of facilitating business with us.

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other infection diseases, our drivers always have access to hand sanitizer, and are welcome to wear face masks and/or gloves, if they desire to. Having said that, the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is is not a job requirement for Greener Bay Compost drivers, especially whereas our face-to-face contact with our subscribers is very limited and typically occurs outdoors, when/if it does occur.

No.

Technically, no, however, some of the materials we accept, per our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable materials, from our Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Service subscribers is considered by most Municipalities to be yard waste, such as Fall leaves, pumpkins, gourds, etc. Accordingly, if you are a subscriber of ours and said materials can fit in our buckets, we will accept them from you.

Additionally, we run an Annual Pumpkin Drive event each November, which see us pick up clean pumpkins, gourds, and other associated matterials for free, from anyone within our Residential Compost Pickup Service‘s service area (which includes Green Bay, Allouez, Ashwaubenon, Bellevue, De Pere, Hobart, Howard, Ledgeview, and Suamico), as long as they’ve met our deadlines for participation.

No.