Urban Farming

Compost Technologies

This program is in part to distribute our excess abundance and in part to teach people about the power of composting. It also embraces local food distribution and food waste partnerships. We hope to train people in composting methods and science so they can create their own composing systems at home or in their community.

We make compost from a mixture of wet and dry ingredients, thanks to our partnerships with local organizations, which allow us to close waste streams in society.

Our carbon element of dry materials for compost is made up of 6 tons of spent grain from local breweries in town we receive weekly, as well as sawdust from furniture makers and mills. Our nitrogen component is made up of waste from the Alameda County Food Bank, the zoo compost program, and hundreds of gallons of nitrogen-rich water from Natel Energy.

Why Compost?

  • Reduce Waste

    We make compost from a mixture of wet and dry ingredients, thanks to our partnerships with local organizations, which allow us to close waste streams in society.

  • Build Soil

    Compost is a key ingredient in healthy soil! It naturally regulates soil temperature and helps retain water so microbes, worms, plants and fungi can form and maintain their complex web of life. It’s a way to return organic matter to the soil and earth’s natural cycles

  • Support Life

    Healthy soil helps sequester, or capture, carbon from the atmosphere. Food grown in this healthy soil has higher nutritional yields so the same amount of food carries more vital nutrients. More nutrients in our food means healthier human beings, physically and mentally!

400 tons

of compost have been retrieved and processed at REAP

Moving Forward

While REAP has been able to generate tons of compost, we are looking to partner with a composting organization to provide workshops and demonstrations to the community.

We would love to partner with outside organizations and offer them a space if they feel mission aligned and would be interested in joining the REAP team!

Where we are now 

We want to continue feeding and caring for our beautiful compost pile! We hope to have partners, volunteers, or staff dedicated to our compost. This would make material collection and depositing, as well as pile turning, watering, and monitoring a part of REAP’s regular cycles. To learn more about how to contribute, check out our Get Involved tab and our Partners page.