LA COMPOST
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Mission Statement
LA Compost is a community-based nonprofit that restores lost connections to the soil and one another. Cooperatively with a diverse network of partners within LA County, we co-create spaces for local compost access and engagement, regenerative practices, and community empowerment. We support a healthy transition where food is never wasted, but returned to the soil for the next cycle of life.
About This Cause
In the beginning, we were a food waste diversion service. Food scraps, leaves, paper, and almost any organic material were collected from 4 different cities. Our collection crew rode bikes with trailers that allowed them the ability to haul this material from restaurants, homes, schools, and apartments, to local created compost centers. These compost centers were often found in the back yards of community-supporters’ homes. Within a span of 5 months our 15 plus riders diverted over 30,000 pounds of organic material from landfills and converted it into useable compost. The compost was sold and given away at local farmers markets. With the generated income from sales, we built an edible garden in one of the cities where we were collecting. Our work was featured in the LA Times, GOOP, and other local publications. In 2014 LA Compost shifted its focus from bike-collections to creating local compost hubs. Our work taught us that the process of compost was beautiful and should be shared with as many people as possible. Our conversations revolved around the power of food, community, and education and we modeled our programming behind these three topics. LA Compost currently maintain 8 different composting hubs throughout Los Angeles County and have a waiting list of over 25 locations that are excited to start composting within their community. The 8 hubs we maintain include Monrovia High School, Westridge School, Elysian Valley Community Garden, University of Southern California, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, THE Juice, Mar Vista Gardens, and The Women’s Center for Creative Work. LA Compost strategically equips each of its hubs with the necessary tools, education and resources to become a self-sustaining compost hub in the future. We build public involvement first by listening to and then working with the local community in its concerns and particularities. By focusing on tangible environmental action and education, our impact broadens. In all our work we are committed to increasing prevalence of and knowledge about composting, directly confronting the devaluation of nutritionally rich food waste, and re-framing so-called ‘waste’ as an indispensable resource. Changing broken relationships between people, food, and the earth is hard work, but we think it is the most important work we can do. We believe that taking environmental responsibility can be empowering and healing, and that Los Angeles needs just this. We see composting as a beautiful process that is collaborative, self-giving and one that exemplifies the type of community we want to embody. It is participation in this life-community that we seek to teach through our environmental work. In our work, we welcome all to become responsible members of our planet and deeply appreciate those who are committed to preserving and protecting its life and beauty. Localized food systems will be the way of the future… LA can lead the way.