The practice of naturally recycling organic material goes all the way back to the Indigenous people; however, in the modern era, it has changed and faces few challenges.
“It’s been an Indigenous…land practice like before we all came,” said Amy Bartucci, administrator of Illinois Food Scrap and Composting Coalition (IFSCC).
However, once society grew in population, more waste was produced. Therefore, this natural elimination of waste stopped. Instead, landfills were used to contain waste and other organic material.
“When our food goes to our landfills, it is creating methane, which is eight times more potent than carbon dioxide,” Bartucci said.
Landfills create an environment where hazardous chemicals, like methane, can be emitted.
Bartucci explained that this happens because organic materials “are being starved of oxygen.”
To help mitigate this issue, yard waste was banned from being dumped into landfills, leading to the composting industry being re-born.
“In 1990, it became law that landscapers were not able to bring their materials to a landfill, and that is how the compost industry began,” Bartucci said.
The industry has evolved since then, and companies have dedicated themselves to the practice.
“In 2024, we composted around 2 million pounds of food waste,” said Kyle Preuss, the Chief Marketing Officer for Block Bins, a Chicago composting company.
However, some materials in the compost can pollute it.
“We find hitches, shoes, crazy things,” said Kila Harwick, Business Development Manager for Green Soils Management (GS), a composting company in Dundee.
To prevent these materials from entering composting facilities, people need to, “Hone in on what they’re putting in their yard waste bins so that when it reaches our facility, it’s a lot cleaner,” Harwick said.
Not only are materials a concern, but cost and transportation can become a challenge as well.
“When we’re trying to reach bagging facilities, full sale, supply, nursery, things like that…it can be an issue for transportation,” Harwick said.
Although presented with its challenges, composting is still widely used, even by municipalities.
Elgin is one of many municipalities that participated in the application of compost on grass.
Soil scientist Vytas Pabedinskas and Ryan Anderson, the founder and leader of Midwest Grows Green (MGG), helped develop a plan to help Elgin use compost in the north end of Lords Park.
“We were literally building new soil,” Pabedinskas said.
Due to the grass’s high stress from human and animal activity, it needed a way to replenish organic matter in its roots.
“You use the compost because grass, while contributing organic matter through its roots, also needs organic matter,” Pabedinskas said. “When you’re putting a lot of stress on these surfaces, it’s not putting out as much organic matter as it could.”
Although it can be nutritional for grass, compost doesn’t need to be added all the time.
“I could throw a whole bunch of compost down on a pathway and hope that it could help,” Pabedinskas said. “If people don’t stop walking on it, that compost is not going to help.”
