PGC Composts

RRD PGC composts logo

After completing the final curbside food scraps and yard trim expansion in January 2024, Prince George’s County residents receiving County-provided trash and recycling services can now participate in the PGC Composts program, Every meal. Every scrap. Every Monday.” The program adds another sanitation collection service to the County’s weekly pickup schedule. 

Use our online address tool to determine whether you receive County-collected waste collection services. Eligible residents for compost collection will see "Organics and Yard Trim Day - Monday" listed when searching their street address.  Eligible households that want to participate in the program can contact PGC311

PGC Composts helps keep valuable materials that are not waste out of our landfill, reduce excessive greenhouse gas emissions, protect our environment, and reduce trash pickup's cost and environmental impacts.

Food and food-soiled paper items, including paper towels, plates and napkins, pizza boxes, and ice cream containers, may be composted by setting out at the curb by *5 am on Mondays for collection. Residents are asked to include only food, food-related items, and yard trim/waste (optional) in the cart for collection. If yard trim/waste is not stored in the cart, residents may continue to place yard trim beside the cart in paper yard trim/waste bags or another container with a tight-fitting lid marked "Yard Trim" or "Yard Waste." However, all food and food-soiled items must be placed in the 32-gallon wheeled green cart for pick-up.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact PGC311. 

Curbside Compost Educational Materials

How-To Compost Guide English Spanish
Acceptable Items (Magnet) English and Spanish
Acceptable Bags/Liners English Spanish
Curbside Compost FAQ English Spanish

RRD compostmagnet

 

Other questions? Email us at pgccomposts@co.pg.md.us

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PGC Composts Final Expansion  

Every home that has County-provided trash and recycling services will have this extra weekly collection service on Mondays.

LOOK INSIDE the green cart for educational materials to help you prepare food scrap and yard trim, including a How-To guide, acceptable compost bag/liners, acceptable materials and FAQs.

Residents can begin putting their green cart at the curb for collection the next Monday immediately following the delivery of materials. 

RRD PGC Composts total carts 1.24.24
RRD PGC Composts total carts ESP 1.24.24

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Holiday Schedule

Weekly curbside collection of compost materials (food scraps and yard trim) is available year-round on Mondays only, EXCEPT on certain holidays (see holiday collection schedule below). Food scraps are collected with yard trim, but food-related items must be placed in the County-issued 32-gallon wheeled green cart. Yard trim includes grass clippings, leaves, small branches, brush, and Christmas trees (December through January).

View a full holiday schedule for trash, recycling, and yard trim/food scrap collection. 

For more information on collection services, contact PGC311.                

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How Do I Start With My Green Cart? Virtual Seminar    
Held on Thursday, February, 23, 2023

 

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What are Food Scraps?

About 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted globally each year, around 40% of that comes from restaurants and 10% from Grocery Stores.*

Food scraps are exactly what they sound like: any pre or post-consumed food substance that is discarded.

foodscrapsiphotofrombiobag350x266 (1) Opens in new window

Nearly 24% of the garbage landfilled in Prince George’s County is food waste that could have been composted.  Sending your food scraps to the Prince George’s County Organics Composting Facility (OCF) for composting will help keep valuable materials out of our landfills, reduce harmful greenhouse gases, protect our environment and help Prince George’s County get closer to our zero waste and waste diversion goals.  Businesses that compost will be viewed by customers as environmentally conscious, and you may experience savings in disposal costs, as the composting facility’s fee is less than most landfills.

Visit EPA's website for more information on the benefits of reducing waste

 *Business Insider

Watch this video tour of the Organics Composting Facility!

 

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Curbside Compost Resources for Successful Preparation

Compostable Bags/ Liners

While the most sustainable option is not to use a liner, you can use a compostable bag or liner in your kitchen pail (3-gallon-sized bag) or wheeled green cart (33-gallon-sized bag).

Bags must be compostable – labeled as either “home compostable” or “commercially/industrially compostable.” Bags that are labeled only as plant-based or biodegradable are not accepted. In no case are traditional plastic bags of any kind accepted

Paper yard trim bags are acceptable as liners. In addition, paper lunch or grocery bags are fine as kitchen pail liners.

How-To Guides

Consider lining the green wheeled cart and kitchen pail with a compostable liner, a paper yard trim bag, or another absorbent material such as paper towels, paper napkins, newspaper, pizza boxes, or leaves to help soak up the moisture created when food begins to break down. 

Watch the "How-To Guide" video here. 

Acceptable Materials

Prince George's County accepts items that can be composted in your backyard, such as fruits and vegetables, leftovers, coffee grounds, and tea, as well as items accepted for industrial composting, such as food-soiled paper, dairy products, and meats and bones.

View or download a copy of the accepted materials here (English and Spanish).

The composting program does not accept facial or toilet tissue, plastic bags, Styrofoam™, grease or liquids, or pet waste.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

View our FAQ here (English)Haga clic aquí para la versión en Español.

Watch the 5/12 recorded workshop session here

For missed collections, or issues with the kitchen counter pail or wheeled green cart, contact PGC311.

Call 3-1-1 (inside County) or 301-883-4748 (outside County) from   
7 am to 7 pm or online 24/7 through the app or website at ocr.mypgc.us/pgc311.