The Village offers a food scrap composting collection program for residential households of up to five units. Participants receive a gray 96-gallon cart for weekly collection of organics, a three-gallon food scrap kitchen pail and a sample of compostable bags for food scraps. Both yard waste and food scraps may be placed in the organics cart, eliminating the need to purchase yard waste stickers. An organic cart subscription costs $16.31 per month, which is about the cost of one yard-waste sticker and one yard-waste bag per week. Residents can share an organic cart with one other neighbor to reduce the monthly cost. More details and an online registration form are available at www.oak-park.us/compostable. For more information, email compostable@oak-park.us or call 708.358.5700.
Composting for apartment dwellers…In an effort to encourage composting among all residents, the Village has kitchen compost pails available for purchase for $10 per pail at the cashier’s window at Village Hall, 123 Madison St. The pails help simplify collection of food scraps for disposal at one of five free compost drop-off locations in the community. Each pail includes a screen-printed list of acceptable and unacceptable items and a vented lid that provides maximum odor control and air circulation. While the CompostAble collection program is only available to residential households of up to five units served by the Village’s waste-hauling contract, residents who live in multifamily buildings or are otherwise not enrolled in the program may leave food scraps in the clearly labeled carts at one of five locations in the Village. Visit www.oak-park.us/compostmap for a printable map of the drop-off locations:
- 102 N. Lombard Ave. – Adjacent to Central Water Pump Station
- 1125 Ontario Ave. – Holley Court Parking Garage at the Marion Street entrance/exit near the bicycle racks
- 720 North Blvd. – Avenue Parking Garage near main entrance
- 1010 N. Ridgeland Ave. – North Water Pump Station near corner of Ridgeland and Berkshire Street
- 207 Garfield St. – Adjacent to the South Water Pump Station