Partnership

Compost Kids, a partnership between the Civic Garden Center and Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, Solid Waste Management District, is a program for primary school students from grades K-6. One classroom participates at a time, allowing for the best instructor-to-student ratio. It's a unique and fun way of teaching the science of soil, decomposition of organic matter, and the importance of diverting solid waste from the landfill.

"My students had a great time and remembered everything weeks later. Almost all of the parents said Compost Kids was the best thing their children did all year!"
Peggy Cappel,
Teacher at St. Aloysius Gonzaga


"By directly exposing children at such a young age to the concept of solid waste reduction, we are hoping to indirectly affect their parents too. Children often have a huge impact on their parents' habits and behaviors."
Heather Schmiedicke
Compost Kids Instructor

Fun Facts

  • 25%-35% of your trash can be composted
  • Paper products alone make up roughly 33% of the waste stream in Hamilton County
  • Yard waste and kitchen scraps make up almost 30% of the waste stream in Hamilton County
  • Minimum of 3'x 3'x 3'of space is required to maintain proper volume for an active pile
  • All organic matter eventually rots. In other words, compost happens.

 

Compost Kids

The Dirt on the Compost Kids

compost kids

Students from grades K-6 learn about composting.

A typical field trip to the Civic Garden Center lasts almost 4 hours and engages students in a variety of hands-on activities such as turning a compost pile, screening finished compost and making plant pots out of newspaper.

Compost Tips

Items to compost:

1. Fruit & Vegetable scraps
2. Bread
3. Leaves
4. Green plants
5. Coffee grounds
6. Tea bags
7. Grass clippings
8. Flowers
9. Pine needles
10. Wood chips, sawdust (untreated wood only!)
11. Shredded newspaper
12. Straw
13. Brush and shrub trimmings

Always bury food in the middle of your compost pile to avoid odors and pests

Photos