HE EASIEST WAY O COMPOST OUR FOOD SCRAPS COMPOSTABLES T HOME IN HICAGOLAND.
Growing Green
April 30, 2025
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■ Discover the wildlife from the Des Plaines to the West Side Page B6
Want to play to your strengths? Get composting
Oak Park’s composting efforts reach new heights By MARTHA BRENNAN
T
Contributing Reporter
he sun is shining, birds are singing, and the warmth is upon us, which means one thing: it’s composting season. Well, this may be the case in any other town. But in Oak Park, it’s always composting season. In 2024, the village won the Pathfinder Award from the Illinois Recycling Foundation. Erica Helms, environmental services manager in Oak Park’s public works department, said the award praised Oak Park’s “successful year-round residential food scrap collection.” The award noted Oak Park’s efforts provide “excellent guidance for other communities.”
THE EASIEST WAY TO COMPOST YOUR FOOD SCRAPS & COMPOSTABLES AT HOME IN CHICAGOLAND.
But how does Oak Park do it? It goes back 12 years. The village has demonstrated its ability to unite in protecting the Earth since 2013, when Oak Park implemented a “villagewide” composting effort, according to the Chicago Tribune. The program provided participants – who pay a monthly fee that began at $14 and now sits at $16.31 in 2025 – with a 96-gallon container to be placed adjacent to trash and recycling bins. Twelve years later, the program still stands. Only now, in 2025, there are fewer obstacles than in previous years, making the composting process easier than ever. This is thanks to the construction of Whole Earth Compost, a facility whose existence allows for certainty that all of Oak Park’s compost has a final destination, where it can then be turned into soil. The facility is located on Chicago’s See COMPOSTING on page B4
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