How To Compost in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Compost Resources

So what’s composting all about?

Composting is the controlled aerobic breakdown of organic materials (aka food waste, paper/cardboard waste, and yard debris) into compost — a crumbly, earthy-smelling product used to enhance the physical structure and nutrient profile of soil. While decomposition (also known as rot!) happens naturally, composting is the act of helping to provide hard-working microorganisms, fungi, & worms with the right oxygen, food, water, and temperature they need to make healthy compost.

 

Why Compost?

30% of all food in America is wasted.

That’s 4.25 billion pounds of food thrown out each year in PA when it is spoiled in transit, rejected by retailers, left unharvested, discarded by consumers, and more (2023 data). Once this wasted food reaches landfills, it rots and releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Individual households generate approximately 49.5% of discarded food compared to other sectors.1

Wasted food should be eaten by people and animals. If it cannot be, composting helps keep it out of landfills.  By choosing to compost in Pittsburgh, you can help our climate, strengthen local soils, and help our economy. Whether a resident or a commercial business, there’s a solution for you!

1 REFED 2023. Insights Engine https://insights.refed.org/ 

Pittsburgh is legendary for its steep, rocky slopes and its powerful three rivers. Unfortunately, our terrain – and long history of heavy land use – mean that our soils are often thin. Erosion, landslides, and flooding are common occurrences here.  Well-made compost can act as a sponge for water, holding on to heavy rains and releasing water slowly over time. Its structure is known to bind loose sandy soil together, while also breaking up heavy clay soils. This structure helps build up soils and provide a happy home for plant roots to grow. Those plants and trees, in turn, can help keep our hillsides more stable. You can learn more about compost’s erosion control benefits here.

Compost also adds and helps make available vital nutrients that plants need, including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Depending on where compost comes from and how it is made, the amounts of different nutrients may vary. Compost (unlike most synthetic fertilizers) typically releases nutrients slowly overtime, allowing plants to fully absorb the meal provided by quality compost. In comparison, plants often can’t take up all the massive dose of nutrients provided by synthetic and concentrated fertilizers — those unused nutrients end up washing away, polluting our waterways and wasting grower’s money.

Good compost makes good gardeners. 

This infographic comes from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org), a national nonprofit organization working to strengthen local economies, and redirect discarded materials into local recycling, composting, and reuse enterprises. It is reprinted here with permission.

SoilMill PGH is an ongoing, multi-year project led by the Department of City Planning, Department of Public Works, and CitiParks. It is designed to grow Pittsburgh’s composting resources exponentially. Please check out the link below to learn more and find how you can be involved!

SoilMill PGH

To directly read the results of Phase I of the City’s SoilMill project, you can find the full PDF in the link below.

SoilMill Phase 1 Case Study

Food Waste Composting for Pittsburgh Residents

There are many ways to become a home composter! If you have a yard – even a small one – and a little bit of attention, composting at home may be a good option for you. Methods range from simple to complex, including building a backyard compost bin, worm composting, bokashi, using a food waste dehydrator, and more!

Backyard Composting

Back yard composting options come in a number of shapes and sizes: compost tumblers, compost bins made from recycled pallets or wire mesh, and more! However, they all share key ingredients to making successful compost:

  • Carbon, also known as your “browns” – this includes leaves, unbleached paper or cardboard, woodchips, etc.
  • Nitrogen, also known as your “greens” – this includes food scraps and grass clippings.
  • Oxygen – the organisms that help generate compost rely on proper airflow to survive. Oxygen is usually incorporated turning, tumbling, mixing, or pushing air through your pile at appropriate times.
  • Water – Your compost pile, and the organisms that help make it happen, need proper amounts of moisture to thrive. Too little, and your pile will not decompose or decompose too slowly; too much, and your pile will be a soggy, anaerobic stew.

Combining all of these ingredients properly will “cook” your compost and create a beautiful, crumbly soil amendment you can use on your garden in the next growing season.

For more detailed instructions, check out this EPA Composting Guide or ISLR’s Composting 101 guide.

Want to learn more? PRC also offers hands-on backyard composting workshops:

Backyard Composting

 

Pittsburgh has a number of small businesses offering compost pick-up services for residents. These companies operate on a subscription model, and will come pick up your food waste from your doorstep and take to local composters for processing. Click below to find out more about each of them!

Carbon Compost

Zero Waste Wrangler

Worm Return

Shadyside Worms

The Compost People

Did you know that you can bring your food waste to Pittsburgh farmer’s markets? Beginning in 2025, Pittsburgh residents can drop off food scraps at all CitiParks Farmer’s Markets!

This pilot service will continue in 2026. Any resident is welcome to bring food scraps  to the green CitiParks tent at the East End Farmer’s Market, Carrick Farmer’s Market, Northside Farmer’s Market, and Squirrel Hill Farmer’s Market.

Food waste dropped off at these locations is then hauled and processed by a local composter.

Materials you can bring to this drop-off option include:

  • All fruit & vegetable scraps
  • Bread and baked goods
  • NO meat, bones, oils, whole eggs, or dairy here, please!

Community gardens are more than just a resource for growing food and building connections with your neighbors – many also are locations where food waste composting happens!

These locations are typically only used by garden members to ensure that the compost is managed according to best practices. Gardeners then use the compost to provide nutrients to their produce.

  • Grow Pittsburgh offers annual courses to become a community composting expert. Check out their Master Composter courses here!
  • The Hazelwood Food Recycling Site is a community garden and community composting pilot site located in the Hazelwood neighborhood.

 

By reducing the amount of food we waste, and sharing excess with others, you will have less food waste you have to manage in the first place!

Check out PRC’s guide to reducing food waste and the City of Pittsburgh’s Food Waste info page for more information.

412 Food Rescue provides many ways Pittsburgh residents, organizations, and businesses can donate extra food, as well as resources for finding free food locally.

How to Avoid Rodents!

A common belief is that composting means inviting rats and other disease vectors into your back yard. The truth? A well – managed back yard compost system can help reduce rodent pressure by making food scraps less available than they would be in a trash bag in your alley.

Make sure that you choose your compost spot carefully, mix your materials well, and follow the guidelines available on ISLR’s “Oh Rats!” guide to rodent control at community compost sites. 

Yard Debris & Christmas Trees

Got leaves? Your yard waste can become yard treasure! Whether you keep your leaves, grass, brush, and sticks at home or send away for processing by the City, keeping these items out of the landfill reduces greenhouse gasses and creates mulch and compost.

Act 101 mandates that most municipalities above 10,000 residents help those residents separate leaf and yard waste from other municipal solid waste by offering pick up services and/or drop off opportunities. Pittsburgh currently offers 2 curbside pick up days per year (spring and fall), and drop off options year round.

Accepted items include:

  • Leaves
  • Grass
  • Brush
  • Branches smaller than 4″ diameter and 5′ long

For more information on what, how, and where you can dispose of your yard waste in Pittsburgh, see the City’s Yard Debris resource page.

Leave your Leaves and Reap the Rewards!

Want to save time, effort, and see more lightening bugs dance in your yard in the summer? Consider “leaving the leaves”! While cleaning leaves and yard debris from steps and walkways helps keep those areas safe for walking, leaving garden debris & leaves (or simply raking them into your garden beds) in the fall can provide habitat for turtles, salamanders, lightning bugs, and more. Plus, the decomposing yard waste will give your garden free nutrients and protective mulch! For more info, see the National Wildlife Federation’s guide to leaving the leaves.

You can also compost most of your yard waste at home! Leaves, brush, and small branches can be an important source of carbon (aka “browns”) for your compost pile. Check out backyard composting resources below for more info.

Don’t have compost pile of your own? Check with your neighbors — if they compost at home, they might want your clean leaves!

Did you know that you can you can recycle your Christmas tree and get free pine mulch in the City of Pittsburgh? Every year, the City offers residents the opportunity to drop off their Christmas trees at 11 different spots for recycling. Trees must be free of ornaments, netting, hardware, lights, and tinsel. Last winter, Pittsburgh helped residents recycle over 2,325 Christmas trees!

This season’s drop off dates run from December 26, 2025 – January 26, 2026.

In the spring, the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Works Bureau of Environmental Services, Division of Streets & Division of Forestry team up to distribute free pine mulch made from your Christmas trees. Pick-up location will be at the Zoo Overflow Parking Lot; spring pick up dates to be announced.

You can learn all about the City’s Christmas Tree Recycling Program by checking out their website here!

Girl Scout Troops in the City of Pittsburgh also offer doorstep Christmas tree pick up service as an annual fundraiser for their troops! All trees are sent to the City of Pittsburgh’s Christmas tree recycling program. To sign up and learn more, click here.

Additionally, you may be able to bring your Christmas tree to the hard-working goats at Allegheny Goatscape, who will graze down on the trees as a tasty winter treat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Food waste pick up and drop off opportunities are still available to you!

  • Check out options available from Pittsburgh’s local compost haulers above!
  • Coordinate with other residents and/or your landlord to identify the appropriate service level for your apartment and share costs!
  • Save your food scraps (ideally in the freezer) and take to the next available drop off opportunity listed above.

Pittsburgh has a number of commercial compost haulers available to pick up your business or restaurant’s food waste.

Short answer is YES, it is legal to compost in Pittsburgh. Backyard composting, and community garden composting, is permitted by right (meaning you don’t need a special permit to do it!) according to Pittsburgh Zoning Code. But you still need to follow best practices to make sure that your compost is well – tended and not creating a nuisance for your neighbors.

Larger community composting operations and commercial composting operations may require permits from PA Department of Environmental Protections (DEP). Compost site permitting information can be found here.

From Pittsburgh’s Municipal Code of Ordinances: 

§ 619.14 Composting.

Composting activities are classified as Urban Agriculture in Section 912.07 of the Pittsburgh Zoning Code. Any and all composting activities, including residential accessory use permitted by right as described in Section 912.02, must comply with the following criteria:

(a) 

Size and Placement. Compost structures shall be set back at least one (1) foot from all property lines.
Organic materials must be located in a defined area (such as a composting pad) or bin through the use of brick or cement block; wood and/or wire mesh; or bins or drums made of plastic or metal.

(b) 

Standard Composting Practices. Standard composting practices, as outlined in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Permit #WMGM017 section II OPERATIONS, are required, including, but not limited to, providing adequate air circulation and moisture to prevent combustion and objectionable odors to adjacent properties.

(c) 

Drainage. The compost site shall be operated in a manner which prevents the drainage of water or leachate onto any neighboring property and protects against the attraction of rodents or other pests.

(d) 

Prohibited Materials. Composting activities may not include: meat, bones, fat, oil, whole eggs, dairy products, plastics, synthetic fibers, diseased plants, or human, cat, or dog wastes or other such materials determined by the Director.

Across Pittsburgh, several universities have stepped up to offer food waste recycling options to students in cafeterias, dorms, and offices.

If you do not attend one of these schools, you are welcome to utilize food waste drop off & community composting opportunities listed above (we recommend freezing your food waste in yogurt or takeout containers until you’re able to find a drop off option!).

You can also reach out to your campus sustainability or facilities team to help make campus composting at your school a reality. PRC may be able to help.

There’s probably a solution to your woes on this handy troubleshooting guide!

PDF version can also be found here.

Find out more

Composting in PA
General Composting Information
Local Resources