Bristol, RI Residents
Join your town’s composting program for just $50 your first year (66% off), and $99.99 your second year (33% off). Includes a FREE Starter Kit! (Limited to the first 500 sign-ups)
When it comes to composting, it’s easy to look down at decomposing banana peels and coffee grinds and ask, “What’s in that stuff? and what’s in it for me?”.
We’re glad you asked. Composting offers enormously outsized effects to the effort it takes, which directly benefits you. It creates cleaner air by reducing methane gases and carbon dioxide, provides healthier soil and crops and reduces chemical runoff into waterways. Simply put, the air you breathe, the food you eat, the water you drink and the ground you walk on all benefit from compost — as, of course, you do.
If we’re committed to achieving the United States’ goal of halving food loss and waste by 2030, composting must be part of the solution. As awareness of its benefits grows, cities are expanding the infrastructure to support it. Just as curbside recycling became standard after landfill overflow demanded change, many homes and schools now have access to excellent compost collection services
If you’re on this page, you’re likely interested in composting beyond personal gain.
To put that in perspective, imagine throwing out more than a third of your food every time you filled up the fridge (refed.org).
Since Americans eat about 1,996 pounds of food a year, that means wasted food could feed 46 million Americans a year (Feeding America, NPR).
That’s as if 3 out of every 10 rows of any grocery store went directly into a landfill (rts.com).
Through a partnership between 11th Hour Racing and Black Earth Composting, residents of Bristol and Barrington can now join their town’s municipal composting program at a discounted rate!
Learn MoreNo matter where you live, what you do on land impacts the sea. Whether you live near the coast or far inland, everything trickles downstream, and by embracing compost, nature’s recycling, positively impacts the ocean.
The ocean absorbs most of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, increasing ocean temperatures. This results in rising sea levels, collapsing food chains, extinction, coral bleaching, acidification, and violent weather events, to name a few. Every effort to reduce greenhouse gases benefits our ocean, and composting is one of the simplest.
Overuse of fertilizer on everything from farmlands to backyard gardens to lawns devastates ocean health. The chemicals travel downstream, creating toxic algae blooms that suffocate our seas. But when we use compost on soil, we reduce ocean-bound pollution and build healthy living soil that can sequester more carbon from the atmosphere.
Composting is proof that the smallest of actions can have massive impacts. Banana peels and coffee grounds go from smelling up your kitchen to healing our air, soil and water.
You aren’t alone; many organizations pick up compost or accept drop-offs, making it easy for you to compost. For a complete list by area, check out the chart below.
Are you already composting? Help us encourage others to get involved. People who love the ocean, nature and gardening make a good audience.
What you put in a compost pile or in the bin of a pickup service varies depending on a few factors. Check-in with your local program or get a detailed list from The Ocean Lovers Guide to Compost.
Download the GuideThanks to support from 11th Hour Racing, residents of Bristol and Barrington can now join their town’s municipal composting program at a discounted rate!
By participating, you’ll help keep food scraps out of landfills, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and return valuable nutrients to the soil — a simple step that makes a big difference for our planet.
Join your town’s composting program for just $50 your first year (66% off), and $99.99 your second year (33% off). Includes a FREE Starter Kit! (Limited to the first 500 sign-ups)
Join for just $66.66 your first year (66% off), and $133.33 your second year (33% off). Includes a FREE Starter Kit! (Limited to the first 500 sign-ups)
Sign up for special updates from 11th Hour Racing, and get a copy of The Ocean Lovers Guide to Compost! We’ll send you more information about composting opportunities, including national resources and backyard composting options.
We’ve gathered a selection of reliable resources—some connected to programs we fund and others not. We know there’s much more out there; consider this a starting point for your journey!
Thank you to our partners and collaborators for helping to amplify The Ocean Lovers Guide to Compost by sharing it with their communities.