Community composting
Composting in Santa Ana Parks
Help prevent waste by dropping off and donating your organic and compostable food scraps. Not only does this help reduce waste in landfills, but this also helps improve the soil to grow healthy plants and people! All five Community Gardens have compost piles that are open for residents:
- El Salvador Park Community Garden
- Jerome Park Community Garden
- Madison Park Community Garden
- Pacific Elementary Community Garden
- Roosevelt Walker Community Garden
Not sure what is compostable? Visit any Community Garden during operating hours to learn more about composting, all of its benefits, and how "waste" can be turned into a local resource.
Composting events
Annual Pumpkin Smash! November 1 - 12
Don't let your Halloween waste haunt you! The Community Garden Program hosts an annual Pumkin Smash to divert pumpkins from the landfill. Smash your pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns at a compost pile in one of the five Community Gardens. The pumpkins will be composted and used to rejuvenate the soil in the gardens.
Why participate?
- Benefits local soil resources by producing a useful nutrient-dense soil amendment.
- Pumpkins are 90% water which is great for soil, but not so good for landfills.
- Most of the 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins produced in the U.S. end up in a landfill (U.S. Department of Energy).
- In a compost pile, pumpkins decompose in 8 - 12 weeks. In a landfill, one pumpkin can take over 20 years to decompose.