LA Compost at Farmers Market

micahhall79
Dec 13, 2022
2 min read

PLAYA VISTA , CA - A composting opportunity is held at the Playa Vista Farmers Market on November 26th by LA Compost. The Westside Regional Hub Manager, Kenny Derieg, is managing the booth and informing others about their services. The event is great for those that have nowhere to store their compost.

Photo Credit: Micah Hall

LA Compost is a non-profit organization that interacts with their community through volunteering opportunities and workshops. Today the Westside Regional Hub Manager, Kenny Derieg, is collecting compost at Playa Vista's Farmers market.

"Gardens just happen to be a space where we can do both of those things. We can process food waste and turn it into something nutrient dense, really beneficial soil amendment that will feed future generations," says Derieg.

Acceptable items include the scraps of fruits and vegetables, and material that is made from trees. Compost gets weighed before it gets released into a bin.

A local composting participant, Paull Young, is here today with his daughter. He explains their routine. "We keep compost on our kitchen counter or put it into the garage. Vegetables, scraps, just things at home and we bring about five pounds down every Saturday."

Full bins are transported to one of the many local community compost hubs managed by LA Compost. Local composting participant, Bobbie Mapstone finds LA Compost very helpful. Her apartment building does not provide green compost bins.

"This provides an incredibly good way to keep our food for a week and then bring it and compost it," says Mapstone.

LA Compost does not accept plastic, meat or dairy, and human or animal waste.

"Our mission is to divert food scraps and organic material out of landfills but ultimately we do want to bring people together as well through the soil," says Derieg.

Mike Martinez is the founder of LA Compost and the organization began in 2013. Two other compost drop off's took place today. They are located at Crenshaw's Framers Market and Silver Lake's Farmers Market.