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 Services, please visit our Services page.

Currently, we perform the majority of our Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups using a Toyota Sienna minivan. On occasion, we also utilize a Chevy HHR (SUV).

Currently, no.

For Residential Compost Pickup Service pricing, visit www.GBCompost.com/Residential.

For Commercial Compost Pickup 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 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 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 Services.

Our Residential Compost Pickup Service is ideal for homeowners and/or those living in single-family households or duplexes.

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).

As long as you have a private door (whether it is a front door or a garage door, preferably individually numbered) that leads directly from your duplex, apartment unit, townhouse, condominium, etc. outside, and as long as your landlord/property manager has no issue with us performing Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups outside your private door, then yes, we can serve your location.

Please contact us before signing up with us, if you are unsure of whether we can service your location.

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 6:00 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.

Shortly after signing up with us, a new subscriber can expect to be contacted by us via email, with information as to when they can expect to receive their first bucket (or buckets), which will generally be on the Sunday or Tuesday immediately following their sign-up date.

Yes. Please visit www.GBCompost.com/Rewards for more information.

Yes. Unless you Contact Us to cancel your Compost Pickup 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 $6.50 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 4/3/2023, we do not accept any materials provided to us outside of our buckets with the exception of pizza boxes. Please see the following webpage for more information on this policy: https://www.gbcompost.com/2023/03/31/ban-on-materials-provided-to-us-outside-of-our-buckets-with-the-exception-of-pizza-boxes-to-take-effect-monday-april-3rd-2023/

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 (and should they wish to receive weight-based credit for said waste), they can:

• Purchase a Special, One-Time Swap from us
  
• Assuming they are on our Every-Four-Weeks Residential Compost Pickup Service, upgrade to one of our Every-Other-Week Residential Compost Pickup Service by contacting us to request such an upgrade
• Add an extra bucket (or buckets) to their existing plan with our Add-a-Bucket option, by contacting us to request an extra bucket (or buckets)

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

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, upgrade their service with us, or subscribe for more buckets with us (all of which, it should be noted, support us/help 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 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, 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 help absorb moisture and control odor.

No, because we do not produce our own wood shavings/sawdust.

For subscribers who are concerned about excess moisture or “offensive odors” emanating from their Greener Bay Compost buckets, it should be noted that any of the high-carbon materials found on the Acceptable side of our List of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials (such as Fall leaves and the specific plain/matte paper items we accept) can be very effective at absorbing moisture and controlling odor.

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 Services, you can do so by visiting our Manage My Subscription page.

Please note: You should never provide credit or debit card information to us (or anyone else, for that matter), via email, voicemail, or text message, as these communication methods are not secure.

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

No. We only accept materials from our Residential and Commercial Compost Pickup Service subscribers, with rare exception.

As per our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials, we only accept products labeled or referred to as “compostable” if they are clearly and individually labeled as BPI or TUV 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).

For a complete list of materials, we accept, please view our List of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials.

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.

No. We do not accept lawn grass or 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 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 compost to one part sand or perlite.

Yes. Unlike many Compost Pickup Service providers, which outsource 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 compost it 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.

We produce all of our compost on our sole compost site, located in the Town of Lessor (Shawano County, Wisconsin).

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).

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.

No.

No.

No.