Frequently Asked Questions

What is compostable?

  • Fruits 

  • Veggies 

  • Meat and bones 

  • Dairy 

  • Egg shells 

  • Coffee grounds and filters 

  • Nuts and shells 

  • Pasta, grains, and rice, even if there’s some oil

  • Bread  

  • Hair and lint

  • Tea bags 

  • Cotton and wool scraps

  • Paper towels 

  • Paper plates (not plastic coated)

  • Pizza boxes

  • Biodegradable plastic must say “backyard compostable” 

 

What is not compostable?

  • Plastic, metal, glass

  • Fruit stickers 

  • Plastic produce bags

  • Plastic or wax coated paper plates and cups

  • Yard waste (just too bulky for our pickup service)

What happens when I subscribe?

Within a day or two, one of our drivers will drop off a bucket at your house. There’ll be a few woodchips in there to help absorb liquids and odors.

Pickups are on Wednesdays so just put your bucket outside like trash or recycling.

I want to subscribe but i don’t know how long it will take to fill up the bucket

A standard two person household will fill a bucket every two weeks.

If you are cooking a lot, throwing out a lot of food scraps, frequently forget to eat the leftovers in your fridge, or just have a bigger household, I’d recommend subscribing to the weekly pickup.

If you live alone, or just want to try it out, get the monthly pick up. You can always upgrade to a more frequent service late.

Buckets are free for subscribers. However, if you don’t want to subscribe just yet, you can buy a bucket for $30, figure out how long it takes you to fill it up, then you can subscribe to the service. Since the bucket is free for subscribers, we will issue discount for people who have purchased a bucket up front and chose to subscribe later. Please email celestine@source-compost.com to request this code.

What if there is mold on the food?

It’s normal for there to be mold in compost. Moldy fruit/veggies will not “contaminate” the compost batch so don’t hesitate to throw those in the bucket. Natural decomposers like mold, worms, bacteria, and bugs are doing their job by breaking down and processing the food. Just please remove fruit stickers, rubber bands, and plastic bags.

what if my bucket gets full before my scheduled pick-up?

  • You can request a one-time pick-up for $17 and we will swap out your bucket within 24 hours. This won’t affect your regularly scheduled pick-ups.

    or

  • You can upgrade to a more frequent subscription. Log into your account, cancel your current subscription, and purchase the subscription you want. There are no cancellation or sign up fees. If you want a pro-rated price, please contact us.

    or

  • You can drop off your compost at the Ramsey Farmer’s Market and we will give you a clean bucket for $5. We are only there every other Sunday! Check our calendar for our next market day: https://www.source-compost.com/calendar

When will you pick up my compost?

Please put your bucket out before 9am. We come between 9am-5pm.

  • Weekly subscribers: Every Wednesday

  • Bi-weekly subscribers: Every other Wednesday. We will confirm with you via email when your next pick-up is.

  • Monthly subscribers: Every first Wednesday of the month.

i’m subscribed to the pick-up service but the pick-ups are too frequent or not frequent enough.

You can upgrade to a more frequent subscription or downgrade to a less frequent one. Log into your account, cancel your current subscription, and purchase the subscription you want. There are no cancellation or sign up fees. If you want a pro-rated price, please contact us.

Even the weekly pick-up is not enough! we want to compost more!

Contact us so we can either get you another bucket, or get you a bigger container.

where should I store the bucket?

Some convenient spots include: Under the kitchen sink, garage, deck, or backyard.

Will the compost attract bears and rodents?

I have used these buckets in lots of outdoor areas in North Jersey where bears, raccoons, and rodents are active and I have never had a problem. The lids do lock on tight when you put the handle on. Even without the lid lock engaged, the lids stay on tight when the buckets get tipped over.

This has yet to happen, but if you are concerned that your backyard raccoons will still get into the bucket, we provide reusable zip ties to really seal the bucket handle to the lid handle.

Some people just prefer to keep the bucket in their garage or basement until pick-up day.

what happens if my bucket goes missing/stolen/damaged?

In short, you have to buy yourself another bucket for $20: https://www.source-compost.com/shop/p/bucket.

Subscribers are responsible for keeping their buckets safe and in good condition. If the bucket is missing/stolen/or in unusable condition after being in the subscriber’s care, Source Compost will request the subscriber to pay a $30 replacement fee online, by cash, or check before resuming pickups. If the customer fails to pay the replacement fee and forgets to unsubscribe from the service, Source Compost reserves the right to retain $15 from the last unfulfilled subscription charge before refunding the customer for remaining unfulfilled orders.

What happens if I forget to put the bucket out?

Give us a call to check if we’re still in the area: (973) 747-9243.

If we’re too far or can’t get in contact with you, we’ll just leave you a clean bucket and pick up two full buckets next time.

why can’t i add a subscription and a product to the cart at the same time?

Unfortunately, this is a limitation of Squarespace websites! You have to purchase “products” separately from “services”. We will be moving our website elsewhere where we can eliminate this technical difficulty in the near future.

I’m having technical difficulties with reseting my password

Call us, and we will work with Squarespace, the website host, to fix it. To speed things us, it’s helpful if you can screen record the error that’s happening.