Don't stop composting because of the cold weather months. Keep reducing landfill and contributing to healthy soil all year long with our Winter Gap Service for Evanston residents.

Collective Resource, Inc. provides a winter compost program for those who need a cold-season option. You may be someone who uses their backyard composter or Evanston’s Yard Cart program most of the year but need an option for the winter months. We hope this program will work for you.

Evanston's Yard Cart program ends the week of December 10, but Collective Resource keeps working all year round.

Our service provides door-to-door food scrap collection. We provide a 5-gallon bucket or a 32-gallon tote and then weekly or biweekly (every other week) pick up the food scraps and take them to a commercial compost site. We also leave a clean container for you to continue your collection for the next pickup.

Commercial composting is different than yard composting. At a commercial site, you can compost anything that was once alive, including animal products and food-soiled paper.  Additionally, we are able to accept compostable liner bags and other compostable disposables that are not accepted by the Yard Cart program. Below is a list of things you can put into your container:

• Meat, bones, fish, and seafood
• Seafood shells
• Fruits and vegetables
• Eggs and eggshells
• Milk, cheese, and other dairy
• Dressings, condiments, sauces, and soups
• Flour, bread, pasta, rice, and pastries
• Coffee grounds, filters and teabags
• Nuts and nut shells
• Spices, oils, and fats
• Compostable Disposables
• 100% Paper plates and napkins
• Corn based plastic cups, bottles & bags
• Popsicle sticks and skewers
• Paper towels and wax paper
• Unadorned toothpicks
• Cut flowers

Winter Gap Service begins the week of 12/05/2022 and the final pickup will be the week of 3/27/2023 unless you let us know that you’d like to continue with our service.

Depending on the size of your family, you will want a weekly or biweekly pickup. Four people generally have a bucket pickup every week.

To get started, use our Contact Form by selecting residential service signup and "Winter Gap Service" option; or call us at 847-733-7665. We'll get back to you quickly to set up your service and answer any questions.