Food Compost Program

Yellow compost buckets are available for pickup at the Borough Hall,  second-floor foyer, between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. 

  • Yellow bucket food waste is collected early every Wednesday morning
  • No meat or dairy please
  • Place your bucket wherever you place your trash for a pickup
  • Please line buckets with paper bags and rinse after collection

Find out how the food composting program works with Chris in the "Gotta Getta Bucket" videos:

Visit our page on what can and cannot be composted.

Take a look at the Curbside Compost FAQ page for answers to many of your questions about the program.

The Borough launched a pilot program to gauge the feasibility of adding food scrap collection to our current recycling efforts and in July of 2021, the program was made available for all residents within Media Borough who use Media Borough Public Works for their trash collection. The food scrap collection program affords residents the opportunity to separate food from the rest of their household waste for collection and composting at a local compost farm.

Media Borough currently has a high rate of recycling participation (estimated at 70%) because our community recognizes that natural resources are limited and that we need to "reduce, reuse, and recycle" to ensure that our world can adequately sustain future generations. Our current recycling and yard waste programs divert close to 30% of residential solid waste from landfill and incinerators. Adding a food scrap collection program can reduce residential waste by another 30%.

Why Is Composting Important

  • Composting reduces household waste by up to 30%.
  • Composting reduces greenhouse gases. Composting keeps food scraps out of the incinerator, decreasing pollution and the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas 310 times more powerful in atmospheric warming than carbon dioxide.
  • Composting reduces energy consumption. The composting process requires fewer work hours than incineration and no fuel deliveries, further lowering greenhouse gases.
  • Composting turns food waste into a valuable resource. When we compost food waste we create nutrient-rich fertilizers used by local farmers and gardeners. Instead of sending food waste to be burned in the solid waste incinerator, composting recycles nutrients and fiber back into the soil where it can support the growth of fresh new food for our tables.

Finished Compost is Back

Back by popular demand, finished compost will be made available to Borough residents four times a year!

A happy part of our earlier pilot program, finished compost, is once again offered to Media Borough residents as part of our borough-wide Curbside Compost Program.Media Borough Compost Bucket

Under the program, the yard waste and food waste collected by Public Works on Wednesdays is taken to Kitchen Harvest Compost Farm at Linvilla Orchards. The composting process converts it to nutrition-rich soil (black gold!) that can be worked back into the land for new food production-a great example of a closed-loop, zero-waste system.

Please limit yourself to one, 5, or 6-gallon buckets worth per load. Believe us, a little goes a long way! Sprinkle the compost over your garden bed and lightly rake it in. The E-Newsletter will announce each time a new load of compost arrives.

The finished compost pile is located behind the back parking lot at the Media Youth Center. View the Garden Compost Map (PDF) to see exactly where. Pick-up is only on Saturdays and Sundays, daylight hours, so as not to disturb Youth Center activities. Bring a shovel!

Questions or Concerns

Visit the Submit Your Questions about Curbside Composting page or call 610-566-5210, ext. 249.