The Fairmount Organic Recycling Center

An old post but it's still valuable information for Philadelphia residents. Need compost take your buckets, ID and get some compost for your garden. 









Lauren McEwen

If you are a Philadelphia resident and a gardener, then RUN, don't walk to the the Fairmount Organic Recycling Center located at 3850 Ford Road in Fairmount Park.

It may not look like much from the entrance, but you've come to the right place!

The Organic Recycling Center is an amazing resource that many gardeners don't realize they have access to. For residential use, city residents may obtain free compost, mulch, wood chips and herbivore manure. Residents are allowed to take up to 30-gallons of material per trip, and to make up to two trips per week. Giant logs are also available for cutting into firewood at no charge. You must provide your own tools, and a chain saw and splitter are recommended for cutting logs into firewood. For the organic materials, I would suggest bringing gardening gloves, a shovel, and a tarp or plastic sheeting to protect your trunk from any spillage.

Residents that wish to obtain more than the free allotment must purchase the materials. Non-residents, landscapers, garden centers, contractors and soil dealers can also purchase materials, which can be loaded into trucks and trailers with a front end loader by Park Staff. 

The Organic Recycling Center Office is the building in the center.

Upon arrival, residents must stop in the office to provide their driver's license to Recycling Center staff to demonstrate proof of residency. Residents must also complete a daily log-in sheet and waiver form prior to loading materials onto their vehicles. There are a few shovels in the office that you may borrow, but I would suggest bringing your own. 

Today I'm here for mulch.

For those driving cars, you can pull up directly next to the huge piles of organic material to load your containers. Trucks (even non-commercial ones) are not allowed in this area. Folks driving trucks must stay parked by the office and then load their containers onto a provided cart to wheel them over.

I like to bring six 5-gallon containers because I can still lift them when full.

I'm not able to produce enough of my own compost at home to fulfill all of my gardening needs, so the Organic Recycling Center is a resource that I greatly appreciate and use often. Maybe on my next trip I'll see you there!

The Fairmount Park Organic Recycling Center is located at:
3850 Ford Road, Philadelphia, PA 19131
215-685-0108

Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday 7:30AM-3PM

Saturday Hours:
April 1 - October 31
7:30AM-11:30AM

2015: International Year of Soils, February: Soils Support Urban Life

Stephanie Rukowicz

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly established December 5th as World Soil Day and declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. This action by the UN is meant to draw attention to the important role soils play in all of our lives.

For many of us in Philadelphia County, it is easy to forget about where our food comes from, trucked in from farms around the region, brought in by train from across the country, and flown in from exotic countries around the world. This food is grown somewhere, and the health of the soil is closely tied to the health of our food--both the quality and quantity.



Excerpt from FAO's soil infographic

Excerpt from FAO's soil infographic

According to the UN's announcement, "one-third of our soils have already degraded. If the current trend continues, the global amount of arable and productive land per person in 2050 will be a quarter of what it was in 1960. The world will have over 9 billion people in 2050, 2 billion more than today. And food production will have to grow by 60 percent to feed a larger population that will also be eating better."

In addition to the role soils play in feeding us, forests require them to grow, we use them for clothing, fuel and shelter, they play a role in water quality and management, and soils also play a major role in mitigating climate change. This video, put together by the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), provides an easy-to-understand overview of the role of soils in our lives.

Here in the United States, the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with the SSSA, and will be highlighting a different theme each month. See the table below for monthly themes. Each month is linked to information on resources and activities for that month's theme.

January - Soils Sustain Life	July - Soils are Living
February - Soils Support Urban Life	August - Soils Support Health
March - Soils Support Agriculture	September - Soils Protect the Natural Environment
April - Soils Clean and Capture Water	October - Soils and the Products We Use
May - Soils Support Buildings/Infrastructure	November - Soils and Climate
June - Soils Support Recreation	December - Soils, Culture, and People

Excerpt from FAO's soil infographic

Lets honor the International Year of Soils by educating ourselves and others about the importance of soils in our lives, and how to preserve and use soils sustainably. What action steps can we take in the our urban environment to help our soils? Here are a few ideas listed by SSSA in their video for February: Soils Support Urban Life:

• Install rain gardens
• Compost food scraps
• Adding finished compost to your soil
• Grow your own vegetables

Interested in learning more? Here are a handful of links to get you started:

• USDA NRCS Soil Health Awareness portal (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/)
• USDA NRCS's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZND69Db-WE0d1ITEiuSjQ)
• SSSA's International Year of Soils portal (https://www.soils.org/IYS)
• SSSA is offering a free PDF Coloring & Activity Book as a tool for introducing the importance of soils to school-age children, K-2 grade level (https://www.soils.org/files/iys/iys-colorbook-for-web.pdf)
• U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) IYS portal (http://www.fao.org/soils-2015/en/?utm_source=faohomepage&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=featurebar)
• FAO soil infographic (http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/world-soil-day/campaign-material/infographic/en/)

America Recycles Day at PHL

Stephanie Rukowicz
On November 13th, in anticipation of America Recycles Day, Philadelphia International Airport organized and hosted many different local groups to present different methods of recycling to travelers and airport employees at the food court in Terminal B/C.

Benjamin Cromie, Master Gardener and consultant to the PHL recycling program, invited the Master Gardeners to set up a table at the event to talk about composting as a way to recycle food and yard waste. Ilana Grubin and I attended the event on behalf of the Master Gardeners and were pleasantly surprised by the number of employees and travelers who stopped by our table and took the time to talk with us about how to get started or to troubleshoot any issues they might be having.

Ilana showed off the compost sample from her at home bin.



The attendees had wide range of composting experience, from those who weren't sure what composting was, to others that already had a successful system in place. We talked to residents and assured them that yes, it is possible to compost in the city. The at home composting methods we talked about included:

• Prefabricated compost bins - Earth machines, tumblers
• Pile system - no equipment needed
• DIY bin system - create out of garbage cans or free pallets
• Vermicomposting - can be done indoors
• Trench composting - bury your food waste to improve your soil

 We promoted the city's yard waste recycling sites and also talked with a few people about the city's hearing on food waste recycling that took place the day before (Nov. 12th). The Philadelphia Prison System had a table next to us, and they were also talking about food waste recycling through composting, and the work they do at their facilities to divert tons of food waste from the garbage stream. Note that they offer free finished compost for pick up. The compost they make consists of food waste from prepared foods and wood chips from a neighborhood tree removal service.


Curby, the Streets Department Recycling

mascot, made an appearance at PHL.

The Streets Department had the most

popular table, as they were giving away

free blue curbside bins.

Here are some links with info about the city's hearing:

• ILSR
• CBS Local news
• Philly.com

 Although curbside food waste pick up (like that found in San Francisco) might be a long way off for Philadelphia, there are options for city residents who want to recycle their food waste, but aren't interested in maintaining an at home system:

• Bennett Compost offers $15/month weekly curbside pick up
• The Dirt Factory is open to University City residents twice weekly for drop off
• The Compost Coop is open to Fishtown and Kensington residents for an annual membership fee of $25-$50 for drop off, included in the fee is finished compost

For more information on composting:

• Penn State Extension Fact Sheet on Home Composting: A Guide for Home Gardeners
• Penn State Extension PowerPoint presentation on How is Compost Made?
• Oregon State Extension How to Build a Compost Worm Bin

For more on the extent of food waste in our garbage:

• Harvest Public Media's Tossed Out: Food Waste in America
• NPR's To End Food Waste, Change Needs to Begin at Home

What to do with all those leaves?

The leaves are falling and the yearly cleanup begins. What strategies are the best to use the leaves in your garden.

1. Discard all leaves of diseased trees or plants from the garden. Do not add them to the compost. Instead, throw them out with the garbage.

2. Masses of leaves should not be allowed to overwinter on your lawn. They will compact and deprive the grass of light and air. Remove the leaves and use them as mulch or add them to your compost pile OR mow them. If you do not have a tremendous amount of leaves, mowing them weekly until they have finished falling will give your lawn nutrients and will provide some shade preventing weeds from growing.

3. Use whole leaves as mulch around plants that have just been planted. The leaves will keep the soil warm and give the roots time to get established. (Leaves should never be placed close to the base of a tree or shrub. It should be a minimun of 6"to 8" away)

3. Use leaves across your gardens bare soil to prevent erosion during the winter.

4. Apply them to established gardens to prevent the soil from freezing and defrosting "heaving" in the winter and premature warming in the spring.

5. Shredding the leaves hastens the process for use as mulch or compost in your garden giving you a dark rich high carbon material.

6. Contact your municipality for information on leaf pick up or drop off . They often shred and make compost to be used in public gardens or provide the community with compost in the spring.
For information on The City of  Philadelphia leaf drive:        Leaf Drive Q&A     Leaf Drive City

7. Finally.........use those beautiful leaves to give artful color to your fall decorating or Thanksgiving Ttable.

Free compost, wood chips, mulch and manure for city residents.

Residents of Philadelphia may pick up free compost, wood chips, mulch and manure from The Fairmount Organic Recycling Center in Fairmount Park.

There is no charge for small amounts of materials. Larger amounts may be purchased for a small fee.

For more information go to http://www.fairmountpark.org/recyclingcenter.asp

The Center is located at 3850 Ford Road, Philadelphia, PA 19131

Call 215-685-0108 or check the web site for opening dates and hours.