SEPTEMBER 15, 2024 update

Compost NOW promotes, supports and provides resources to several free residential food waste collection programs throughout New Orleans. We partner with several local farms and gardens who accept frozen food scraps on site, what we call “direct-to-farm” or “direct-to-garden” drop offs. We also partner with Audubon Park and with REALCYCLE at City Park’s Crescent City Farmer’s Market, who still offer “hosted” collections.

Our partners all run and are responsible for their own collections. Ideally, they notify us when they need to cancel a date / or close for an extended period of time so that we can update our website, Facebook and Instagram. Many of our sites do shut down during the hot summer months, and over various holiday periods. See current schedule* for Sugar Roots Farm, Crown Community Garden, Recirculating Farms (back from hiatus) Galvez Garden, Speak Easy Farm (closed until further notice), REALCYCLE at City Park, Pelican Gardens and Earth Lab in the Marigny (closed until further notice). We also promote collections at Loyola University (closed until further notice), Barcelo Gardens, Sprout NOLA (back from hiatus) and Sankofa Community Garden. If you are interested in having your drop off site added, please send us an email.

Please DO NOT drop off your food scraps outside program hours or if the bins are not there.

Leaving food scraps when/where they are not supposed to be can lead to ants and rodents, and makes more work for our amazing partners!

STILL CLOSED: Speak Easy Farm and EarthLab in the Marigny.

REALCYCLE hosts a collection during the Crescent City Farmers Market, every SUNDAY from 8am-noon. Look for their tent: they also accept glass, aluminum and cardboard! Please confirm open hours with either REALCYCLE or the Farmer’s Market if you have any questions.

Galvez Garden is 10:00am-1:00pm every SUNDAY at 2317 N Galvez Street in St Roch.

Sprout NOLA accepts food scraps during their Volunteer for Veggies open hours on MONDAYS from 3:30-5:00 and THURSDAYS from 4:00-5:30pm at their Conti Street Garden AND from 10am-noon at their Bienville Garden. Please check their Instagram account to verify they are open, as they do sometimes change up their schedule due to rain, staffing, etc.

Recirculating Farms is now accepting scraps all day on TUESDAYS (9am-5pm) and again from 9:00am-noon on FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS at 1924 Jackson Avenue.

Sankofa Community Garden is 9:00am-11:00am on FRIDAYS at 27 St Claude Ct. Please contact them directly if you have any questions about their hours.

Crown Community Garden is 9:00am-5:30pm every SATURDAY at 19 Marywood Court in the East (+ Recirculating Farms is also open SATURDAYS from 9am-noon)

Barcelo Gardens collects during their Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, 10:00am-1:00pm at 2301 Gallier St. Please contact them directly to verify they are open.

Sugar Roots Farm is DAILY, 9:00am-3:30pm. They feed scraps to farm animals AND compost the rest.

Pelican Gardens no longer has public hours. Please eemail them directly (pelicangardensnola@gmail.com) for information & instructions about dropping off at their location

CLOSED INDEFINITELY: Loyola University students started hosting collections on March 20, 2024 every Wednesday from 4:30-6:00pm next to Monroe Library near the community gardens. They are not sure when/if they will be returning in the Fall. Please contact earedma@my.loyno.edu with any questions.

And you can always drop off your scraps at Schmelly’s Dirt Farm from 6am to sunset, DAILY.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we continue to transition from an organization that organizes and hosts food waste collections, to one which primarily supports and promotes the efforts of others.

*Check Compost NOW’s Facebook page for daily posts regarding updates and drop-off locations. We will try to mention other drop off sites that we are aware of happening throughout the city, as we believe it is important to offer decentralized locations in order to reduce “food waste miles.”

We also have Instagram but it is not updated as frequently.

Compost NOW is a residential food waste collection program. We promote and support multiple daily drop off sites all over New Orleans.

We also occasionally sell DIY backyard compost and indoor worm bins, but have not done so in 2022-2023. We are planning to bring this program back in Winter 2024/2025. Learn more here!

What to Bring

Frozen fruit and vegetable scraps (peels, pits, seeds), eggshells, nut shells, seed shells, tea bags, coffee grounds, filters, plain grains, plain pasta or plain bread in a paper or compostable bag or bring scraps in a reusable container.

NO MEAT, NO BONES, NO DAIRY, NO OILY FOODS.

Why frozen? Our agreement with the local farms, businesses, and public spaces that we partner with is that scraps must be frozen to avoid potential smells, roaches, and rodents. We never want to invite unwanted guests to these spaces!

Also, freezing your scraps means no smell, fruit flies, roaches or rodents for you at home. PLUS freezing breaks down the cell membrane, speeding up the decomposition process meaning an easier job for the farms we donate scraps to. It’s a win-win-win for everyone!

2024 Drop-off Schedule

The below schedule is updated as of April 2024. We hope you find these convenient, as there are typically multiple options every day, on both sides of the river. Our Facebook Page is the very best way to stay up-to-date (pinned post, upcoming events, daily posts or any last minute schedule changes we are notified about) and get more details for each site, as it can vary slightly. We also try to keep our Instagram updated as much as possible BUT ultimately we rely on our partners to let us know of any changes so we strongly encourage you to visit their social media pages to check for any last-minute cancellations or closures due to weather events or otherwise. Reminder, Schmelly’s Dirt Farm is open daily, 6am until sunset.

Please DO NOT drop off your compost outside of the days and hours specified above or if the bins are not there. Doing so jeopardizes our partnerships with these farms, businesses, and public spaces which allow us to host our free collections. Leaving food waste unattended will result in shutting down the location.

Thank you!

Mission

Our mission is to empower local residents to take collective action over the issue of food waste. Compost NOW started as a free residential food waste collection project in New Orleans, and has transitioned into promoting and supporting a network of decentralized drop off sites.

Founded in January 2017 by Master Composter Lynne Serpe, our ultimate goal is to build a network of community composters in every neighborhood in New Orleans. In the last 6.5 years, we have diverted over 850,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill. Food scraps go to local farms and community gardens where they are turned into nutrient-rich compost or used to feed farm animals. 

Our volunteer-run program was modeled after a similar food waste collection program Lynne started and ran with the Queens Library system—which is still ongoing years later. In the beginning, we worked with the New Orleans Public Library (2017-2020) as community libraries are models of reuse and resource sharing in a place that's convenient to everyone, across all demographics and ages. Like many, we had to pivot when COVID hit and find new partners. We started making and distributing low-cost backyard compost bins and indoor worm bins, and began coordinating “direct-to-farm” drop off options.

As we continue to grow, we continue to work with local farms, community gardens, public spaces, and businesses with like-minded ideas and goals for the community.

We look forward to building a sustainable future for New Orleans. Collectively, we can make a difference.

The video below is from our first year (2017).