Valpo, Boone Grove Compost Sites to Open March 30, 2015

Compost-pilesThe Valparaiso compost site, 2150 W. Lincolnway, and the Boone Grove site, 400 West 550 South, will open for the season March 30, to give Porter County residents a location to drop off and recycle yard waste from their spring yard cleanups.

Regular hours for the Valparaiso compost site will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Currently, the Valparaiso compost site is only open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through March 28. The site is owned by the City of Valparaiso and managed with assistance from the Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County.

Regular hours for the Boone Grove site, owned and operated by the district, will be from noon to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Currently the site is closed.

The sites may close due to inclement weather.

Materials accepted at either site include organic yard waste, leaves, garden clippings, household plants, brush, limbs, logs and firewood. Treated wood or lumber is not accepted at either site. Grass is not accepted at the Valparaiso site. Compost and mulch will be available at both locations for residents to take, while supplies last.

These large scale municipal composting operations allow the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County and select municipalities to manage organic material, composting yard waste and grinding organic wood waste to create large amounts of finished compost and mulch. The resulting compost and mulch are also available for public use.

Other materials accepted at the compost sites for proper disposal include old or unusable electronics (anything with an electrical cord or powered by batteries); cell phones; compact and tube fluorescent light bulbs; household batteries; toner cartridges; and old media, such as floppy disks, DVDs and CDs, etc. Cassette and VHS tapes, or other media containing tape/film are no longer accepted.

The Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County is an agency dedicated to improving the environment and quality of life by providing services and educational programs which help residents reduce, reuse, and recycle.

For more information about public compost sites in Porter County, visit the District’s website, www.ItMeansTheWorld.org, or call 465-3694.