Composting 101: A Guide to Community Composting

  • Nov 16, 2025
  • Linda Bilsens Brolis
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  • Fact Sheets and Guides
  • Composting for Community
  • Community Composting
  • Compostaje
  • Zero Waste
  • Climate and Environmental Justice
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    ILSR’s Composting 101: A Guide to Community Composting, available in English and Spanish, covers the fundamentals of community composting, including the benefits of composting, building and managing a compost pile, and troubleshooting.

    This guide was developed to provide a simple how-to guide for community composters and to assist community composting sites in training their own community participants.

    What’s included: 

    • An introduction to the art and science of composting
    • A simple composting recipe and guidance on what materials are recommended for community composting
    • Common steps in composting

    Download the Full Guides:      

    English          Spanish

    About Composting

  • Composting is a controlled process where raw organic materials, such as food scraps and dry leaves, are decomposed (broken down) by fungi, bacteria, and other microbes. The result is compost: a dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling soil amendment.

    • Reduces waste: Wasted food is the largest single component of everyday garbage. Composting food scraps and yard trimmings keeps waste out of polluting landfills and incinerators.
    • Grows Community: Community composting encourages people to engage with each other while learning how their food is grown. Commercial sites sustain 4-8 times more jobs per ton than landfills and incinerators.
    • Protects the climate: Landfills and incinerators emit potent greenhouse gases. But compost added to soils helps sequester carbon — or pull carbon from the atmosphere — while reducing the need for fertilizers made with fossil fuels.
    • Enhances soil: Applied to soil, compost adds soil organic matter and enhances structure, fertility, microbial activity, water holding capacity, and ability to resist plant diseases.

  • Learn about composting with worms with our Vermicomposting 101 Guide, learn about backyard hot composting with our Home Composting 101 Guide, and explore our other Home Composting Resources.

     

  • Learn more about composting in your community with our Community Composter Resources. For a deeper dive on starting a community composting initiative, explore our self-paced Community Composting 101 Online Certificate Course.

  • Our Composting Learning Activities provide a hands-on complement to our Community Composting 101 Online Certificate Course, which prepares participants to establish and manage composting projects that both engage and serve their communities.

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    Please take a moment to tell us about how you will use these resources, provide feedback, or give input on future resources.

    This guide is also available in Spanish. Check out our complete list of Spanish Composting Resources.

    This project has been funded in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under a Recycling, Education & Outreach (REO) assistance agreement to ILSR.

    Additional Composting Resources

  • All C4C Resources