Last Chance: Sign Up for Composting

Update: Turns out, "Last Chance" is a bit of a misnomer here. Although the program begins April 2, residents can continue to sign up after that. Just call village waste manager Karen Rozmus at (708) 358-5707 to sign up. Eligible residents include the roughly 1,300 South Oak Park households from Harlem Avenue to East Avenue, and from the Eisenhower Expressway to Roosevelt Road. 

If you're a south Oak Parker looking to cut down on the amount of waste you send to landfills, it's time to check out the village's composting pilot program.

Here's how it will work: Residents who want to sign up for the program, which will make its test run April 2 through November 30, will pay $12 per month. Officials say that's less than the cost of one yardwaste sticker per week.

Participants will receive a special 96-gallon mobile cart for organics, a bucket for collecting food scraps, along with compostable bags. An important caveat: Both yardwaste and food scraps can be placed in the big organics cart, but residents must ensure they're tossing their food scraps into bag that meets American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards for compostable materials.

Interested? Contact Oak Park's Waste Reduction Manager Karen Rozmus by calling (708) 358-5707. Just a heads up: signing up for the program means you're committing through November.

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