I think compost is THE best soil amendment there is, but I really don't want a compost pile in my yard. I do the next best thing, I subscribe to the Urban Food Loop and let them compost for me. For a $31 monthly fee, they come by and pick up a 5 gallon bucket of kitchen and garden scraps each week.
I have a crock (they provide) on the kitchen counter that I keep my waste in until it is getting full,
then I dump it into the 5 gallon bucket. I put a piece of newspaper in between each dump, but that is my doing, not required. By the end of the week, the 5 gallon bucket is pretty full and then they take it away and bring me a clean one.
Then two times a year, they bring me bags of compost to add to my garden.
A win/win for sure.
I hate throwing away food, but since I started using Urban Food Loop, at least my food waste isn't going into the land fill. Read Admire who started this venture makes great compost. It has a fine texture, and I haven't had any weed issues. I did get some compost from a friend last year, and I added a bunch of weeds to my raised beds! The problem with home composting is if you add weeds to the compost, the temperature is not consistently hot enough throughout the pile to kill the weed seeds, so you end up adding them back into the garden. Read composts on a large scale
and monitors the temperature and has great consistency. His product is top notch.
I mix it into all my raised beds as I am planting and I am having great production.
He bags the product in breathable bags as well, so they don't build up heat while you are waiting to use them.
I cannot recommend Read and Urban Food Loop enough. If you live in the greater Little Rock area and are interested in participating, visit their website.
I got my bags of compost last week and I am using them rapidly as I begin the planting season.
If you are not a gardener but would still like to prevent food waste going to the landfill, you can follow the same steps, but donate the compost to a local community garden instead of getting it for your own garden.