Montgomery County Recycling Launches ‘Backyard Food Scraps Compost Bin Sale’ During June - Montgomery County Government (2024)

FAQs

What is the Montgomery County food Recycle Program? ›

The Commercial Food Scraps Recycling Partnership Program assists businesses that generate larger quantities of pre-consumer food scraps to recycle those food scraps.

Food – You can feed your worms most fruit and vegetables scraps, coffee grounds and paper filters, crushed eggshells, paper tea bags without staples, and crushed eggshells. Avoid citrus fruits, odorous foods like onions and garlic, meat, dairy products, greasy foods, bones, and pet waste.

Compost bins work by facilitating the decomposition of organic matter through proper aeration and moisture retention.

Never compost cooked food, meat or fish. Fill it up - Place these items along with your garden waste into your compost bin. A 50/50 mix of greens and browns is the perfect recipe for good compost. Wait a while - it takes between nine to twelve months for your compost to become ready for use.

Mixed paper items (paper and cardboard) go into your blue recycling wheeled cart (or in a paper bag, cardboard box, or bundle with twine), and glass/plastic/metal bottles, jars, cans and containers go into your blue bin. Residents can also recycle yard trim (grass clippings, leaves and brush) and Christmas trees.

Citrus Peels: Oranges, lemons, limes, and other citrus fruits have peels that can be slow to decompose and may make your compost too acidic, potentially harming plants.

DON'T add meat scraps, bones, grease, whole eggs, or dairy products to the compost pile because they decompose slowly, cause odors, and can attract rodents. DON'T add pet feces or spent cat liter to the compost pile. DON'T add diseased plant material or weeds that have gone to seed.

Composting banana peels is as easy as simply tossing your leftover banana peels into the compost. You can toss them in whole, but be aware that they may take longer to compost this way. You can speed up the composting process by cutting up the banana peels into smaller pieces.

Many home composters shred the clean parts of the pizza box and toss that into their bin and leave the greasy food mess behind. Oils keep the box from breaking down properly and could leave your compost pile unbalanced, so it's a good idea to keep it clean.

Do compost bins attract bugs? ›

If your compost is very damp or wet with breaking down vegetable and fruit scraps, then yes, it will attract flies. Flies like these conditions to lay their eggs, then hatch into maggots. Flies also like a smelly waste to lay their eggs in, then the larvae hatch as maggots, and the cycle will continue repeatedly.

If you plan to start composting, consider investing in a compost bin. Unlike an open compost pile or heap, a compost bin speeds up the decomposition of organic matter through proper aeration and moisture retention so the nutrient-rich compost is ready for use in your garden earlier.

Start with a base layer of twigs, mulch or old potting mix to encourage air circulation and provide drainage. Follow with layers of green and brown material — say garden clippings and kitchen scraps, then leaves and wet paper.

Bins of less than 1 cubic m (1.3 cubic yd) are generally less efficient than larger ones, but will still make compost successfully, although less rapidly. The best location for a compost bin is a sheltered spot in partial or full shade, to avoid extremes of temperature and moisture.

Maryland Environmental Service operates a unique recycling program for midshore residents in Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne's, and Talbot Counties. MES provides electronics recycling at specific locations in each County.

You may order up to 2 bins per year. If you would like to request a repair or replacement of your mixed paper wheeled cart, you may call 311 (240-777-0311) as cart service fulfilment is separate from Recycling bin service. Have a broken or unneeded blue recycling bin at your home? Add bin pickup to your "Cart".

The countertop systems shred and dehydrate food scraps rather than allowing them to decompose over time with the nutrients necessary to create cured compost. The final product of this type of countertop system is not guaranteed to benefit soils in the same way that compost does.