City of Portland, OR

10/11/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/11/2024 18:45

Compost your leaves, pumpkins, and more

Blog Post
You can toss pumpkins, leaves, branches, and the scary leftovers hiding at the back of your fridge in your green compost cart.
Published
October 11, 2024 4:30 pm
Updated
October 11, 2024 4:40 pm

Pumpkins, gourds, and more

This year's old Jack-o'-Lantern could help next year's pumpkins grow. When your pumpkins are past their prime, put them in your green compost bin. Your old pumpkin will be turned into nutrient-rich compost that helps next year's crops grow.

  • Remove candle wax: If there's melted candle wax in your jack-o-lantern, scoop it out and put the wax in the trash. Then the pumpkin can go in your green bin.
  • Painted pumpkins should go in the trash.

Other things to toss in your green bin:

  • Fallen fruit
  • Leaves
  • Weeds, vines, grass, flowers, plant clippings
  • Small branches (less than 4 inches thick and 36 inches long)
  • Half-eaten candy bars and other sweets (just remove the wrappers first; wrappers go in the trash)

Sweep up leaves

Set out an extra 32-gallon can, kraft paper leaf bag or bundle of yard debris for a $4.25 fee.

Do yourself - and your neighbors - a favor by sweeping up leaves from your sidewalk and street. It won't take long, and you'll get some exercise, enjoy some crisp fall weather, and make your street a lot nicer to walk, bike, and drive on once the rains hit.

When leaves are swept up, they clog storm drains, flood intersections, and make sidewalks and streets slippery.

Sograb a rake on a nice fall day and sweep up leaves to put in your green bin. If they can't all fit, fill a kraft paper leaf bag and set it out with your compost bin for $4.25 per bag.

Watch the weight: Wet leaves are heavy. Your 60-gallon green compost roll cart has a 135-pound limit. Extra yard waste bags have a limit of 40 pounds.

If leaves are dry, you can fill up your cart to the max, but if leaves are wet, they can reach that maximum weight well before the bin is full.

Pumpkins are also heavy - if you've got more than a few pumpkins to toss, hold some back to add to your green bin next week.

Your compost bin fights climate change!

Putting food and yard debris in your compost instead of the trash matters! Here's why:

Food decomposes in landfills and creates methane, which, when released in the atmosphere, worsens climate change. Methane is 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, so achieving significant reductions in methane emissions is critical for meeting our climate goals.

When you put food and yard debris in your green bin, they turn into nutrient-rich compost, which improves soil health while reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.

Compost also helps the soil retain water, reducing the amount of water needed to help plants grow. As Professor Sally Brown from the University of Washington explains:

"It's like California Closets for your soil: Instead of just throwing everything on a heap on the floor, you put it in the appropriate units, and all of a sudden you have a lot more space. Sowater can soak in much more quickly. And also, there's a lot more space for water to hang around, so this reduces your irrigation needs."

Healthy soil helps plants thrive and benefits microbes and plants that in turn sequester carbon from the air.

Where to get compost for your garden

Fall is a great time to add compost to your garden.

You can buy compost created with yard and food waste from Portland homes from Recology Organics North Plains.

Or, if you want to make compost in your own backyard, follow these how-to guides and troubleshooting tipsfrom Metro.

Backyard compost piles don't get as hot as commercial compost facilities do, so you'll still want to use your curbside compost bin for things like meat, fish, bread, and cheese (as well as larger branches). But backyard compost piles can turn fruit and vegetable trimmings, leaves, and grass clippings into great compost to use on your garden beds.