CompostSMART is returning fall 2023. Please email authority@recyclesmart.org to be added to the waitlist.
Are you interested in public education and outreach? The CompostSMART Advanced Training Program might be for you! You’ll receive in-depth composting education with an experienced and knowledgeable team, and then you’ll share your training with the wider community.
CompostSMART was developed to help residents understand the importance of organics recycling, build composting systems, recycle food and yard waste at their homes, build healthy urban soils and support thriving landscapes throughout the RecycleSmart service area.
The series includes 30+ hours of training, including classroom instruction, outdoor training, activities and tours. Once you’ve successfully completed training, you’ll spend 35 hours doing volunteer outreach in the community to complete the program. Outreach might include giving classes at local community gardens, schools, nurseries and community centers, assisting organizations and community gardens to set up composting systems, or attending events and farmers markets and staffing composting information tables.
CompostSMART Topics
- Definitions, benefits, soil science
- Compost ecology, critters, chemistry
- Management, tools, systems
- Vermicomposting
- Harvesting, applications, composting in other settings
- Composting alternatives, strategies, troubleshooting
- Communication
- Activities, projects, experiments, outdoor activities, tours
Training Location
Classroom instruction and outdoor training will be located at The Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek (sits just above Heather Farm Park). Some Saturday sessions will be hosted at local community gardens throughout the County.
Community Outreach
After completing the training, you will become part of a select team of RecycleSmart residents empowered to share what you have learned with friends, family, neighbors and the community at large. You will have the support you need to be successful at teaching others. Community outreach is an essential component of the CompostSMART Series, and a powerful form of environmental action!
- 35 volunteer outreach hours required within one year of participating in the training.
- 20 volunteer outreach hours required annually to renew involvement in program each year after.
Application
Only RecycleSmart service area residents are accepted into the program: Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Walnut Creek, Danville and Unincorporated Central Contra Costa County (Alamo, Blackhawk, Diablo).
CompostSMART Graduates
- Volunteer Hour Record
- Watch Vermicomposting (Worms!) videos created by the 2016 CompostSMART Class!
Questions?
For more information about CompostSMART or other composting related programs and resources, please contact Ashley Louisiana at (925) 906-1801 x109 or email ashley@recyclesmart.org.
