Composting, or controlled decomposition, requires a proper balance of “green” organic materials and “brown” organic materials. “Green” organic material includes grass clippings, food scraps, and manure which contain large amounts of nitrogen. “Brown” organic material includes dry leaves, wood chips, and branches, which contain large amounts of carbon but little nitrogen. Obtaining the right nutrient mix requires experimentation and patience. Composting is the aerobic (with oxygen) decomposition of organic materials (wood chips, yard waste, manure, food scraps, paper) into a dark, rich, crumbly soil amendment known as compost. Boosting organic matter in soil also aids the process of carbon sequestration, in which plants draw down carbon from the atmosphere to be stored in the soil. Composting is nature’s way of recycling plant waste to nourish the growth of new plants. It requires four simple elements:

• Green Matter (food scraps, grass trimmings..)
• Brown Matter (wood chips, dried leaves..)
• Water
• Air

Together, they create the ideal environment for microorganisms to thrive so they can break down food scraps and mulch into rich, dark, soil. It’s not as easy as dumping all your scraps into a bin. Compost piles require maintenance. That’s where we come in. Our composting operation, an aerated static pile, produces compost quickly. It is composed of a relatively homogenous mix of organic wastes. 

We maintain our massive compost piles, which need to be watered every couple of days and turned with a pitchfork anywhere from once a week to every few weeks. Our compost is hot enough to kill pathogens, as it gets anywhere from 130 to 160 degrees fahrenheit. We also use worm castings, the ultimate gold standard of compost.

Why Do We Compost? 

We make it easy for people to turn what could have been wasted food back into food.

• The average person generates 30+ pounds of waste per week, and 40-50% of that can be composted. Organic material decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen). When it hits the landfill, waste produces powerful greenhouse gasses like methane which is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Recycling organics into compost aerobically mitigates methane production, and creates a remarkable resource - compost.  

• Composting reduces burden on our local landfill, and our municipal sanitation system. More local food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in our everyday trash.

• If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere behind China & the US.

• Compost promotes microbial activity that feeds our plants. Healthier soil = healthier plants. Healthier plants = healthier people. 

• Composting in your rural landscape will save money from your personal landscape expenses; less water needed, less (or zero) fertilizer needed.

• New research suggests that working in the soil can actually positively affect your immunity and mental health.

• Improved soil, air, and water quality due to reduced use of chemical fertilizer

• Community empowerment through self-reliance

• Green and natural neighborhoods

• Better utilization of resources to reduce society’s expenses

• Creation of organic kitchen gardens

• Better health and wellbeing of people who consume this produce

• Fewer garbage trucks in rotation

• Your food scraps will be transformed into nutrient-rich black gold. 

We wanted to expand composting in our area to increase local resilience, build sustainability awareness, and provide quality soil amendments for local use. Our soil can be alkaline, has poor drainage, low fertility, low water retention, and compaction problems. Organic compost can help address these issues. As organic materials degrade during the growing season, they release valuable nutrients that plants can utilize. 

An inadequate supply of fertile garden soil and compost needed to grow food is why we started this initiative. Food scraps and yard trimmings can easily be turned into beneficial compost for everybody in the community. We collect compostable organic material from businesses and homes, transport it to our site, and create a product that farmers and gardeners can use to grow healthy plants without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. SoundGarden Community Compost connects people to the soil and builds a community around compost. Community-scale composting is one approach to prevent landfill disposal of compostable organic material. It has the potential to reduce waste generation and costs while benefiting the earth by returning nutrients to the soil. 

Our Goals?

Ultimately, we want to create a large scale Wheatland town garden that runs on community & compost. A place for all of us to evolve as friends and neighbors. A place to grow flowers, vegetables, edibles, medicinals. Together. A garden that belongs to those who inhabit the land. An area to teach children about the loop of consuming food to compost in order to create more food. We will be petitioning Platte county for the opportunity to make this a reality! Engaging in composting may not only improve your own ecological footprint, it may also be a great tool to educate your children about our environment and how every one of us can make a contribution to go greener. By showing your kids how organic waste can be reused , they may develop a better connection to nature and will also be more likely to adapt eco-friendly characteristics into adulthood.

To engage and enhance the community and to increase awareness and access to organics. Community-scale composting, at its core, is the notion that organics are processed as close to the sources where they are generated to capture the benefits of both the process and the finished product for the community.

Our composting operation services our community with all of the finished compost returning back to the community for food production, stormwater management, soil remediation, and more. 

Community-scale composting also encompasses collection services that facilitate organics diversion in our community. These operations have been effective in engaging our citizens in the organic recycling process. 

We remove organic material from the “waste stream” and return it to the soil. This improves the health of the soil to restore our food quality, farms, and communities.

When you reduce food waste through composting (as you separate food scraps from the rest of the trash) you become more aware of how much food you throw away.

Our soil and compost are available through our brand Sound Garden Community Compost.

• We Compost The Following:
• All Food
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Seafood
• Grains
• Eggs & Shells
• Spoiled & Moldy Food
• Oily Pizza Boxes
• Fruit Pits
• Seeds
• Wine Bottle Corks
• Coffee Grounds
• Flowers
• Coffee Filters
• Napkins
• Paper Towels
• Uncoated Paper Plates
• Tea Bags
• Yard Waste (leaves, weeds, branches, wood scraps, lawn clippings, thatch, trees, flowers, and more)
• We avoid fats, oils, grease, meats, and dairy as they increase the potential for odors and vectors. 

In our pick-up system, participants generate materials and set out the container at their curb, doorstep, or porch, similar to curbside waste and recycling programs. Our program picks up the container, empties the contents into our larger collection bin and brings the materials to our site where it will be composted. 

Our collection enterprises have developed innovations to provide our services to as many members of the community that wish to engage with us.

We set up a waste audit consultation to get an understanding of your organization's waste stream. This enables us to set up a food scraps diversion program that is customized to the organization’s needs. We turn food scraps from restaurants into soil to grow more food for the same restaurants. Let us show you how easy and cost effective composting can be for your business. We take food scraps from residential consumers and turn those scraps into soil for their home gardens, greenhouses, flower beds, and farms. 

We Offer Door - to - Door Collection

Residential subscribers receive a 5 gallon bucket and we provide weekly or bi-weekly pickup. You receive a clean bucket swapped out at pickup. As a part of your residential subscription, you get ½ yard of compost delivered. You can opt to receive compost 2x/year, and if you don’t need it we will donate your share to gardens and farms in need, or somebody in the community who does. 

You’ll also receive annual impact reports.

Commercial subscribers receive alternative containers or bucket sizes made available in equivalent volumes of smaller bins as needed to accomodate space constraints. Transform your waste into compost and connect with the community you serve. As part of the partner, we provide data on your impact and connect you with our environmentally conscious residential customers. We also feature our commercial customers and their efforts in our social media channels monthly. 

Restaurants & Cafes

Businesses & Offices

NonProfits & Schools

Gardens & Farms

Industrial Food Producers

Our finished compost is fresh, local, sustainable and environmentally produced right on a Wheatland farm. Our compost is made with locally sourced all-natural feedstocks including food scraps, leaf & wood waste, and agricultural residuals that we blend and age carefully so that you only get mature, weed and pesticide-free compost for your planting projects. All material has the potential to be transformed into a new valuable resource, especially food scraps & yard waste. By collecting and composting food waste, we not only reduce materials sent to landfills and incinerators, but we recapture imperative nutrients and microorganisms, return them to our local soils, and promote stronger and healthier local food production and consumption. Composting reduces volume of food scraps clogging up residential & commercial kitchen sink disposals. You’ll also be amazed by how much lighter your trash bags and bins will become.

• Compost reduces, and in some cases eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers. It promotes higher yields of agricultural crops, and significantly improves soil quality. Through the use of compost, the soil mix will be better able to retain water, which is especially important in hot and dry summer climates since plants will be able to survive without irrigation for longer periods of time in comparison to soil that is not mixed with compost.
• Compost is an inexpensive soil conditioner. 
• Compost is an entirely organic fertilizer. Since only organic food waste and other organic materials can be composted the end product will be organic. Compared to conventional chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizer does not lead to groundwater pollution.
• Most of our consumer waste ends up in landfills where it can lead to soil pollution. It can also be burned which leads to the emission of greenhouse gasses and global warming.

There is never a bad time to condition your soil with compost, but we recommend doing so before the planting season has begun if you plan to till or heavily mix into your garden. Our favorite time to add compost is after the planting season is over in late Fall or early Winter. This allows the microbial life in our products to benefit your soil through the off-season so you’ll be ready for Spring, Summer, or Fall planting.

How much compost do I need?

Each cubic yard of compost will cover approximately 120sq ft to a depth of 3 inches.