March 18, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Philadelphia's community compost network partners with gardens, schools and urban farms to collect food scraps and break them down into nutrient-dense soil. Parks & Rec provides the materials and training, but the sites are run by volunteers.
Philadelphia's community compost network is expanding for the first time since its 2019 launch.
Parks & Recreation announced the second round of applications for the network Monday, calling on community gardens, urban farms, schools, recreation centers, churches and neighborhood civic groups to join the composting program. Farm Philly, which runs the network, will ultimately select 10-12 applicants, doubling the size of the current group. Applications are open through Friday, April 12.
Accepted applicants will receive a three-bin composting system and the tools and supplies necessary to manage it. The city also provides free training sessions and educational materials, but the actual stewardship of the sites falls to local volunteers.
The announcement puts the program ahead of schedule. Last month, Parks & Recreation's director of urban agriculture said the department hoped to have the application out by the summer — and "the hope is a strong, bold hope."
The caution is expected, given the network's many setbacks. The city had just selected its first group of sites and begun training in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, putting the initial rollout on pause. Rodent and burnout problems followed. Now, Parks & Rec officials are hopeful the process has been fine-tuned enough for an expansion.
The network is only open to publicly accessible spaces willing to accept food scraps for composting. At least three volunteers are required to supervise the site, and bins must be turned every three days. Interested applicants also must provide information about their maintenance and recruitment plans — and what they will do with the finished compost — to be considered.
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