Residential Composting Service

Helping you combat climate change by making residential composting easy in Chicagoland.

We’re committed to guiding you to the best possible solution for your particular household.

We’ve merged with The Urban Canopy and City of Chicago services can now be accessed through their website.

City of Chicago Composting

Community programs available for the following municipalities:

Evanston

  • that can be easily integrated into homes, businesses and institutions.

  • are different from backyard composting and allow you to compost every kind of food waste.

  • are customized to your needs with either 5-gallon buckets or 32-gallon totes swapped out weekly, biweekly or every four weeks.

  • that include being able to pay monthly, quarterly or annually, with annually being the most cost-effective choice.

  • hold 32 gallons and can be used communally in neighborhoods, multi-unit buildings or for customers that produce a higher volume of organic waste.

  • can have as many collection containers and swapouts per week as needed to meet your food scrap collection needs. High-volume tote service includes discounts.

  • apply to additional containers.

  • of all sizes are possible with our composting containers and expert staffing to guide your guests in sorting all waste streams. Learn more.

Park Ridge
Skokie

All other Chicagoland Suburbs:

Map of Chicago and surrounding suburbs showing Collective Resource Compost Co-op's service areas, highlighted in different colors for suburban, city, and municipal groups, with major roads and neighborhoods labeled.
  • Red buckets stacked outside the entrance of a fire station, with a sign on the door reading 'Station 5' and the fire department badge for Evanston Fire Department.
  • Green compost bin with a lid labeled 'COMPOST' and contact information from Collective Resource Inc, lined with plastic.
  • Sunlight creates shadow patterns on dark stair mats on a staircase outside a brick building. There are a large metal trash can and three orange buckets on the top step.
  • The interior of an empty white cargo van with two green trash bins inside.
  • A red compost bucket placed on the ground outside a house next to a decorative flower pot, with a black door, doorbell, and a doormat nearby.
  • Green trash and recycling bin with a clear plastic bag inside, situated on a sidewalk next to a wooden fence.

Flexible Service Options for Chicagoland Suburbs

Compost Communally with Neighbor Totes™

Looking for a shared composting solution? Get a tote instead of bucket!

Each 32-gallon tote accommodates food scraps for 24 people in a week.

It works the same way as the residential compost bucket swap, only in this case you share a bigger container with your neighbors or community.

Learn more
A green outdoor compost bin with the word 'COMPOST' written on the lid. The bin has a clear plastic bag lining it. To the left, there is a sign for 'Neighbor Totes' with a broom icon on top of the sign. The background is a brick wall.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • All food scraps and certified compostable products can be put in your container. See our What to Compost page for guidance.

  • You want an easy, actionable way to combat climate change and make a positive difference in your loved ones’ futures. Diverting your food scraps from a landfill through composting both reduces the amount of methane your household is responsible for producing and recovers resources to enable the nutrients present in your food waste to become a natural fertilizer to regenerate our soil.

  • Our 5-gallon buckets have lids that seal tightly. Our 32-gallon totes are bagged and also have lids. When the containers are closed, they do not smell. As it gets closer to your swap-out day, you may notice that the contents smell when you open it. The odor dissipates soon after you’ve closed it up. If keeping your bucket or tote outside is an option, that would help. Some customers freeze some of their food scraps and place them in our collection containers on the swap-out day. Click here(Link) for ideas on how to set up compost collection in your kitchen. You may also see our blog post about managing your compost collection (Link) during the summer for additional tips and tricks.

  • Each spring, we offer 10 free gallons of finished compost to our customers at what we’ve named our Spring Finished Compost Gift-Back. We offer several different days for customers to bring their own containers, collect their compost, and have the opportunity to purchase more if they need more. We partner with our colleagues in the local composting and farming community to provide this gift for our customers. Find out more about finished compost gift-back.

Read all FAQs