San Francisco Compost Giveaway Draws Thousands

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- More than 5,000 people lined up at four designated recreation and park sites in San Francisco Saturday to have their buckets filled with free compost.

Between 8 a.m. and noon, nutrient-rich compost was shoveled out by Recology and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, who have teamed up for the last five years in the giveaway.

Recology CEO Mike Sangiacomo said the compost is a great planting mix for home gardens and outdoor containers and makes plants and vegetables grow healthy, improves root structure as well as gets carbon in the soil.

KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:

He encouraged that now is the time to add the soil at the start of the growing season. "Springtime, this is the time to put it on," said Sangiacomo.

"We think it's a great thing for people to come back, get some of this and see what you can do with a product that used to just be garbage," he added.

One woman who showed up for the free dirt said the area's climate was conducive to growing greens and lettuces in her back yard.

Susan Pena, who also attended and drove through the Alemany farm sight, observed how this is much easier than her worm composting bucket which can be very time consuming.

Since composting became mandatory in San Francisco in 2009, Recology has been collecting 600 tons of food scraps per day, a 40 percent increase from before the law was implemented.

San Francisco is number one at having the nation's largest urban compost collection program.

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