City of Portland, OR
10/26/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/26/2024 18:19
Compost your pumpkins, leaves, 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 26, 2024 4:40 pm
Past-their-prime pumpkins
This year's old Jack-o'-Lantern could help next year's pumpkins grow. When you're done with your pumpkins, put them in your green compost bin: They'll be turned into nutrient-rich compost for next year's crops.
- 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
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 aren't removed from sidewalks and streets, 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
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 the next week.
Your compost bin fights climate change
Food decomposes in landfills and creates methane, which, when released in the atmosphere, worsens climate change.
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. But backyard compost piles can turn fruit and vegetable trimmings, leaves, and grass clippings into great compost to use on your garden beds.