Through legislation passed in 2022 and 2024, Washington has affirmed its commitment to reduce landfill-disposed organic material by 75% by 2030.
To meet this goal, Clark County Public Health’s Composter Recycler programs make composting more accessible for locals.
These programs aim to enable residents to divert food waste from landfills and turn it into compost by offering educational workshops, materials and community bins.
We Compost Community Hubs
In south Clark County, the We Compost Community Hub pilot program has made food waste recycling easier. This collaboration between Clark County and Waste Connections started in 2022. This program provides convenient food waste dropoff locations for residents, accepting all food waste from meat to coffee grounds. Each week, the compostable materials are transported to Dirt Hugger, a commercial composting facility, where they are processed and broken down into nutrient-rich compost. Residents cannot place plastic, paper or any other waste into the bins, even if labeled as compostable or biodegradable.
Clark County Solid Waste Education and Outreach Senior Celina Montgomery, who leads the pilot program, explained that food waste in landfills contributes to methane gas production, a harmful greenhouse gas.
“Composting is an aerobic process that’s gonna take all of that nutritious food and break it down, and then it’ll turn into a soil amendment, which is what we call compost,” Montgomery said.
She added that in landfills, the lack of oxygen prevents this process, resulting in the production of methane.
To support residents in participating, kitchen counter food waste pails are available for free through clarkgreenneighbors.org/we-compost. Currently, there are 10 We Compost Community bins set up across various locations in and near Vancouver. However, Montgomery noted the need for more hubs in northern Clark County, such as Battle Ground and La Center. The program is looking for more commercial and congregational areas in north Clark County to make composting more accessible.
“We’re trying to get it to where people don’t have to drive more than 5 miles to get to a community hub,” she said.
Despite limited coverage in north Clark County, the program has reduced landfill-disposed organic material by thousands of pounds. In 2023 alone, over 36,000 pounds of food waste were collected from the community bins.
The bins are located at 10 congregational and commercial areas across Vancouver, including:
• 78th Street Heritage Farm: 1919 NE 78th St, Vancouver
• Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church: 12513 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver
• First Presbyterian Church Vancouver: 4300 Main St., Vancouver
• St. Andrew Lutheran Church: 5607 NE Gher Road, Vancouver
• TSMC Washington: 5509 NW Parker St., Camas
• Vancouver First United Methodist: 401 E. 33rd St., Vancouver
• All Saints Episcopal Church: 2206 NW 99th St., Vancouver
• Minnehaha Church of Christ: 3217 NE 54th St., Vancouver
• New Hope Church/One Life Food Bank: 1812 Columbia St., Vancouver
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver: 4505 E. 18th St., Vancouver
Residents outside Vancouver and Ridgefield cannot order residential compost bins, but they have alternative ways to reduce food landfill waste, such as composting at home.
Home Composting Options
For those interested in composting at home, Peter DuBois, senior at Clark County Solid Waste Education and Outreach, offers educational resources on backyard composting. While community hubs accept all types of food waste, home composting requires a more careful approach.
“With We Compost, pretty much anything goes because that’s getting hauled off to an industrial compost facility that’s very controlled. … You can include your meats, bones, cheeses, dairy, grains, all that stuff,” DuBois said. “We are more particular when we get to home composting. We really want to control foul odors, you know, for neighbor issues, and then we don’t want any rats, mice or nuisances getting in. … There is a skill to doing your backyard composting correctly.”
There are several methods for home composting. A typical backyard compost pile requires a balance of greens — produce scraps, coffee grounds, and grass clippings — and browns — dry materials like shredded paper, leaves, and sawdust. The mixture must be turned regularly to incorporate oxygen, speeding up the decomposition process. The compost is ready to use when it’s dark brown, crumbly and smells like rich earth. This compost can then be used in gardens or flowerpots.
DuBois recommends watching or participating in a workshop before composting at home, however. This is especially important for other methods including red worm composting, which involves feeding food scraps to a bin of red worms to produce a natural fertilizer. DuBois pointed out that this method requires extra care to maintain the worms’ environment and supply. Though it takes effort, home composting can make a big difference in reducing waste, he said.
“[Composting] really is an altruistic thing,” DuBois said. “Some folks have the opportunity to put in the carts, [though] not everyone can haul food scraps around or even into your backyard. It takes a little extra effort. That’s really the change we’re hoping for, and we’re all in it together. I think we all want our planet to survive with us on it… It’s just [about] how we cycle these nutrients rather than sending it to the landfill.”
Educational Workshops and Resources
Clark County Composter Recycler programs offer free workshops to teach residents various composting methods. Upon completion of a workshop, participants can request composting bins and materials, paid for through grants provided by the state. For those unable to attend in person, recorded workshops are available online.
Several in-person and virtual workshops are scheduled for October:
• Backyard Composting: 7-8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 9, via Zoom. Learn how to build a compost pile and see demonstration bins in action.
• Composting Field Training: 10-11:30 a.m., Friday, Oct. 11, at 1919 NE 78th Street, Vancouver. Get hands-on training on how to maintain compost piles.
• Red Worm Composting: 7-8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 16, via Zoom. Learn how to construct and maintain a worm bin.
• Lasagna Composting: 7-8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 23, via Zoom. Discover how to layer compost materials in a raised garden bed.
• Bokashi & Other Indoor Composting: 7-8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30, via Zoom. Learn indoor composting techniques using the Bokashi method. Participants are eligible to receive a Bokashi bin and a kitchen counter food waste pail.
To watch recordings or to register for upcoming workshops, visit clarkcountycomposts.org/workshops.
