From Waste to Resource

Welcome to your neighborhood Community Compost Project!

Join the interest list to be notified when registration opens for 2026! 

Registration will be open in Winter 2025 for the 2026 season. This program runs from April through November. 

We will be welcoming participants to join us in 2026 with renewed program guidelines based upon our results from the pilot. There will be 150 spots available in the program! We hope that you will join us in turning food waste into a valuable resource to enrich our shared land." 

The Community Compost Program is modeled after the successful Bethlehem Municipal Compost program and in consultation with ANCA Compost for Good and reflects a growing movement toward food sovereignty, sustainability, and circular systems."

Step 1: Sign Up for the Interest List
Fill out a short form to express your interest in joining the program. This is not a commitment, but it guarantees you'll receive registration info when available.

Step 2: Register When Notified
We’ll email everyone on the interest list with a registration link and time when spots become available. 

Step 3: Attend a Compost Training
Before dropping off any food scraps, you’ll attend a required training session led by Sustainable Saratoga. The training will cover: what you can and can’t compost, how to store and prepare food scraps at home, how the drop-off system works, and why composting matters for Saratoga Springs

Step 4: Start Collecting Your Scraps
At home, collect acceptable food scraps in a container of your choice, or with our provided compost bin you will receive when you join the Community Compost Program. You can keep it on your counter, under the sink, or in your freezer.

Step 5: Drop Off at Pitney Meadows
Once trained, you can bring your scraps to our on-site composting system by using your code.

Step 6: Your Scraps Become Soil, Closing the Loop
Food scraps are mixed with browns (wood chips, leaves, straw) and rotated regularly to produce nutrient-rich compost. The finished compost is used to enrich the soil in Pitney Meadows' Community Garden and agricultural fields, helping grow fresh produce for local families, food pantries, senior centers, and shelters. You’re directly supporting food access and local agriculture!

40% of the food produced for human consumption in the US goes to waste, and over 90% of that ends up in the landfill. Composting is a natural process of recycling food waste into a nutrient rich soil amendment. In landfills, food waste slowly decomposes in the absence of oxygen and produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas with far more global warming potential than carbon dioxide.

A heartfelt thank you to the City of Saratoga Springs, the Participatory Budgeting Committee, and everyone who voted for our Community Composting project in the Participatory Budgeting cycle. Your support is turning sustainability into action!

"Composting is a crucial environmental initiative, and we are proud to support Pitney Meadows through Participatory Budgeting—the most democratic process in the City's budget, where community members have the power to vote for the projects that matter most to them." - Commissioner Minita Sanghvi