Star City Compost
The Harvest Collective’s is organizing Star City Compost - Roanoke’s first food waste diversion and composting program. Opening in the Spring of 2023, the facility and collection program will keep 330 tons of food waste out of landfills annually while creating fertile soil for our local farmers and gardeners.
Starting in April of 2023, we will pick up food scraps in our community on a weekly basis. We will offer commercial subscriptions, create community drop-off sites, and residential options as we expand. Do your part to help the earth and make a commitment to divert your food waste by pre-registering for our food waste diversion program.
With the help of a 45+ Year Compost Industry Veteran, we have designed a series of Aerated Static Piles (ASPs) to process 17,000 pounds of food waste per week from our community. ASPs create an environment for thermophilic (or hot) composting, accelerating the normal composting process by maintaining higher levels of oxygen. An air blower creates positive pressure, forcing air through a manifold at the base of the pile. ASPs remove the need to turn the compost piles during the active phase of composting.
Additionally, we will provide a variety of products in our second year as we develop in partnership with the silent earth-movers, worms. Worms will help us bring additional rich nutrients to growers in Roanoke in the form of vermicompost and compost teas. These products are excellent for amending soil and repelling unwanted pests. They also increase the microbial activity of soil making nutrients available to plants. Customers can also purchase these worms as bait for fishing or kitchen-scale composting worm bins.
