Today’s communication is about a change in the items we can accept for composting beginning May 15, 2023. We haul it to a transfer station, and from there, it is hauled to a commercial composting facility. We do not own the transfer station nor the commercial composting facility. Recently the owners of the transfer station have chosen to haul to a commercial composting facility that is closer. That is good news. The commercial composting facility is trying to make the best finished compost possible, free of contaminants. This is more good news. It’s an important part of making the […]
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Many of you originally learned about our service when we were out tabling somewhere, like an eco-fair or farmers market, so you know that one of the first questions we ask is, “What kind of building do you live in? Single-family home? Multi-unit building?” And without fail, the people who live in apartment or condo/co-op buildings answer in a really dejected tone as though there’s no hope for them to ever be able to compost. I’m here to tell you that there is hope, people! In fact, our founder Erlene Howard created this service because she lived in a […]
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I’ve got documentaries on the brain. Not surprisingly, given that our local-to-Chicagoland One Earth Film Festival just ended. But do not despair if you missed it because they have an Earth Day Mini Film Fest happening from April 19–23. There are opportunities to view films virtually or in-person. We’re so lucky to have this organization in our community. Just in case you’ve never heard of the festival, here is a bit more about them: One Earth Film Festival is the Midwest’s premier environmental film festival, creating opportunities for understanding climate change, sustainability and the power of people. It showcases […]
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We’re offering free finished compost as a gift to our loyal customers! Collective Resource Compost customers can claim up to 10 gallons of finished compost as our gift to you. You can also purchase additional compost for $5/5 gallons (cash or check only). We’re able to do this, with the help of The Talking Farm, who is graciously hosting our gift-back event at their Howard Street Farm. The finished compost has been processed by Green Soils Management, an EPA-permitted processor located in East Dundee. This compost, packed with microorganisms and fungi, is ready for any type of crop, your […]
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We’ve been involved with a coalition that used to be called Illinois Food Scrap Coalition (IFSC) and just recently added Composting to its name to become Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition (IFSCC). It was always about composting, and now the name reflects it. Back in 2012, our founder Erlene Howard was invited to participate by composting and educating at an event called GreenTown Highland Park hosted by Oak Park–based Seven Generations Ahead. Soon thereafter IFSC was formed by attendees of that conference who have been meeting nearly monthly since. It’s not unusual for professionals to be active in […]
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Discount for First Year of Door-to-Door Service Skokie residents, who are new Collective Resource Compost customers, can enjoy a 15% discount for paying annually for the first year of our container-swap composting service. 5-gallon Bucket 32-gallon Neighbor Tote Collective Resource Compost has been servicing Skokie residents since 2012, most of whom are still using our service. Join your neighbors in diverting your food scraps, mitigating climate change and helping Skokie meet its sustainability goals. Eight Free Drop-off Sites In recognition that some residents would prefer to drop off their food scraps, the Village of Skokie has created eight free […]
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We’re delighted to announce that we have reached another diversion milestone: 10,000 tons! That’s a whole lot of carrot tops, pizza boxes, eggshells, chicken bones, Chinet plates, etcetera, etcetera. We’ve gone from 4 digits to 5 and added a comma! In the first six months that founder/owner Erlene Howard was hauling buckets of food scraps in her Toyota Camry, she averaged about 77 pounds a week. Our crew is routinely averaging 36+ tons a week! That’s over 72,000 pounds. We think it’s kind of cool that we hit this milestone on January 16th, 2023 since we started hauling way […]
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It’s the third year we’re holding a restaurant raffle to support our composting community. Winters are historically slower times for restaurants and cafes. We’re sponsoring a raffle for you to win a gift card from any of the food-related businesses listed below. Restaurant raffle rules The raffle begins now through March 15th. Show us receipts from any restaurants, cafés, caterers, bakeries, food producers, or grocery stores that are Collective Resource Compost customers. To enter the raffle, spend at least $100 total. You could spend it all at one place or several as long as it adds up to at […]
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Before the sun rises on this brand-new year, we’re pausing to look at a few causes for celebration from this past year: We reached our 12th birthday and our 9000-tons-diverted-from-the-landfill-since-we-started milestone in June. We are routinely diverting 40 tons every week. We entered into a franchise agreement with the city of Park Ridge and expect to be adding more municipalities to our composting community in the coming year. We are now servicing 3300+ customers with 47% of those in our franchise agreement municipalities of Evanston, Morton Grove, Park Ridge and Skokie. We were happy to help many events get […]
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Recently, we provided compost containers and staffing for a wedding. We were dismayed that there was not a plan in place for the leftover edible food, which is why food donation is the topic of this blog post. Of course we were able to compost it, but we would have been happier if it fed people instead. Instead of pointing fingers at the planners, we turned it around and asked ourselves how we could have helped to prevent this. We’ve changed the zero waste event inquiry form on our website to include this question: What is your plan for […]
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