City of Pgh Compost Pilot

Soil Mill Pittsburgh

Thank you for your excitement about composting and your participation in the City of Pittsburgh’s Soil Mill PGH residential composting pilot!

This landing page will be used for participants to directly engage with the Pennsylvania Resources Council throughout the pilot program. If you need support and technical assistance, we are here for you!

From July to September, we will populate this page with resources for home composting. Additionally, we will use this page to share the information the City of Pittsburgh has for all participants, such as the required surveys. At the bottom of the page, you can submit a form directly to the Pennsylvania Resources Council that will be reviewed by a member of our Zero Waste Programs team as soon as possible. Once reviewed, one of us will contact you directly to assist with troubleshooting any issues you have with your compost system.

Info For The Educational Workshops/Orientation

Special workshops that focus on the different types of home composting will be held in-person from July 23rd-26th and on August 5th. They will also be available soon virtually. The workshops for the pilot participants who were selected for the drop-off services, pick-up services, or the mill will be online-only. The workshops have two or three parts each that discuss the Soil Mill PGH pilot, generalized information about composting, and the specific type of composting you are participating in through the pilot.

Each participant for the pilot will receive a journal and a small compost pail for collecting food scraps. If you were selected to receive a home composting system, try to attend an in-person workshop and plan to take your system home with you.

The Yard Turner is in a box that is 24 x 24 x 8 (inches) weighing approx. 25 lbs. The Yard Bin is 32 x 27 x 31 (in) and approx. 16lbs. The hot box is in a box that is 20 x 20 x 20 (in) and appox. 35 pounds.

If you were selected for the compost drop-offs, subsidized pickup services, or the mill, feel free to come by in the 15-20 minutes immediately after any workshop has finished to receive your journal and small steel pail. Due to maximum capacities of our meeting rooms, please do not attend a composting workshop for a type of composting you were not selected for.

If you arrive to a composting workshop and your name is not on our list of selected participants, we will ask you to leave and will not allow you to take a composting system home with you.

In-Person Workshop Dates, Times, And Locations:

Due to the maximum capacity limits at the Carnegie Libraries, we are asking for participants to use this 5-question Google Form to indicate which workshop they plan to attend, their type of composting, and whether they will be bringing family members/roommates/others to the workshop with them.

If you cannot attend an in-person workshop (or do not have access to a vehicle), email TrevorF@prc.org or ZacharyD@prc.org to arrange a pick-up of your home composting system.

Workshop #1 – July 23rd: Hot Box, Yard Turner, and Yard Bin Composting
– Carnegie Library, Squirrel Hill Branch, Meeting Room B (5801 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15217)
– Sunday, July 23rd from 2:30pm to 3:30pm

Workshop #2 – July 24th: Hot Box, Yard Turner, and Yard Bin Composting
– Phillips Recreation Center (Carrick), Dance Room (201 Parkfield St, Pittsburgh, PA 15210)
– Monday, July 24th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Workshop #3 – July 25th: Bokashi and Worm Composting
– Carnegie Library, East Liberty (130 S Whitfield St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206)
– Worm Composting – Room 1
– Bokashi Composting – Room 3B
– Tuesday, July 25th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Workshop #4 – July 26th: Bokashi and Worm Composting
– Carnegie Library, Carrick Branch, Meeting Room 2 (1811 Brownsville Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15210)
– Wednesday, July 26th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Workshop #5 – August 5th: Hot Box, Yard Turner, and Yard Bin Composting
– Carnegie Library, Allegheny Branch, Main Meeting Room (1230 Federal St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212)
– Saturday, August 5th from 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Workshop #6 – August 5th:Bokashi and Worm Composting
– Carnegie Library, Allegheny Branch, Main Meeting Room (1230 Federal St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212)
– Saturday, August 5th from 2:30pm to 3:30pm

Online-Only Workshops

Home Pickup Services

  • The online workshop will be available shortly and will be sent to you via email.
  • Alongside access to the virtual workshop, you will be provided a choice between two compost haulers. You will use a link or a discount code to subsidize your payments to $10.00 per month for two months worth of service.
  • If you do not pick up your small steel compost pail and journal at the end of one of the in-person workshops, instructions for arranging a pick-up will be provided.

Drop-Off Services

  • The online workshop will be available shortly and will be sent to you via email.
  • Alongside access to the virtual workshop, you will be provided with other online materials to assist identifying drop off locations.
  • If you do not pick up your small steel compost pail and journal at the end of one of the in-person workshops, instructions for arranging a pick-up will be provided.

The Mill

  • The online workshop will be available shortly and will be sent to you via email.
  • Instructions for arranging a pick-up of the mill system, your steel pail, and your journal will be provided.