Scrap - Compost

Food scraps recycling drop-off is available at a few locations around Madison.

NEIGHBORHOOD FARMERS' MARKET LOCATIONS & RULES

Drop-Off Locations:

• Eastside Farmer's Market (202 S. Ingersoll St within McPike Park)
  • April 30, 2024 to October 29, 2024
  • Tuesday evenings, 4:00pm to 7:00pm

Two more market sites will be announced at a later time.

Rules:

• What are you allowed to drop off at the food scraps sites?

• What is banned from the food scraps drop-off sites?

COMMUNITY GARDEN COMPOSTING SITES

These sites are restricted to just the immediate neighborhoods served by these gardens.

They are volunteer run as well.

If you wish to participate, please contact the garden coordinator.

Click the garden name for more details

• Prairie Hills Neighborhood Community Garden

• More gardens sites are coming soon. Check with your local community garden to see if your neighborhood would be interested.

Other options...

Try backyard composting options.

Be sure to check out our how-to guide, which you can pick up from your local Madison Public Library branch.

You can also contact a private vendor to possibly set up collection service.

think prevention

Reducing the waste you make is always the best choice.

Use the resources on our other food scraps pages to help plan your meals, store & use what you buy, and to create new opportunities with leftovers.

food scraps you can compost at the market sites

You can use this guide to help you decide what you can, and cannot, take to the market food scraps sites.

Not everything that could be composted is allowed in this program.

The food scraps recycling at the farmer's market are limited to the below items. (The below list will be updated if more items are added):

• Raw fruits, including peelings, cores, etc.
• Raw vegetables, including peelings, husks, etc.
• Coffee grounds
• Grains and Rice
• Eggshells

If you have a food scrap you want to compost, but you are unsure if you can take it to the site or not, please contact us.

Do not take food scraps to the site that you are unsure if you can compost or not. Contaminating the food scraps recycling can make the program fail.

A list of items that cannot be accepted can be seen below.

What happens to the food scraps collected at the market sites?

They are taken to the Neighborhood Food Solutions farm where they are composted and used on this farm.

foods & other items banned from market drop-off

The below foods are BANNED from the market food scraps drop-off program.

DO NOT BRING THESE ITEMS TO THE MARKET FOR COMPOSTING:

The below list will be expanded if additional banned items become necessary

• All meat & bones (including fish and shellfish)
• Food products cooked with or in fats, oils, and grease
• Containers of fats, oils, and grease
• All dairy products
• Paper products, including bags & newspaper
• Compostable plastics, including compostable bags & compostable tableware
• Produce stickers, twist ties, and other non-compostable material etc.
• Pet waste & diapers
• Traditional plastics
• Metal items
• Glass items
• And also trash items

Staff at the market site will be available to answer questions as needed.  However, please contact Streets or consult the list of acceptable material before bringing material to the market site if you are unsure if we can accept it in our program. 

There are many composting programs around the country with different rules.  Just because some other program in another part of the country is willing accept the material you have does not mean the program we have in Madison can accept it today. You must follow the local guidelines.

community garden composting locations

Prairie Hills Community Garden at Lucy Lincoln Hiestand Park

• Contact the Prairie Hills garden coordinator to see how to participate.
• Material accepted here would be the same as what can be composted in your own backyard.

backyard composting

Check out our page about how to start composting the food scraps in your back yard.

private COMPOSTING OPTIONS

If you are interested in composting your food scraps and the drop-off sites just won't work for your needs, these composters may be able to offer the service to you for a collection fee:

• Earth Stew: 608-213-6990
• Curbside Composter: 608-338-4798
• Green Box Compost: compost@withgreenbox.com

Commercial entities may also want to consider inquiring with Sanimax or your private waste hauler to see if they can offer food scraps services. Organix Recycling may also be able to provide some collection services.

The drop-off sites are for residents. They can't support the volume generated by restaurants, food manufacturers, and other businesses.  Commercial entities are also encouraged to contact the company that presently hauls their refuse and recycling to see if a food scraps program is an available service.

will citywide food scraps recycling ever happen?

Yes.

We've learned a lot of lessons over the past 10 years of trying to make food scraps recycling work in Madison. We haven't solved it yet, but we will keep trying. 

One promising development that could get us closer to providing food scraps recycling for the city is the Sustainability Campus proposed by the Dane County Department of Waste and Renewables.  You can read more about that project here.