PGC Composts
With the successful implementation of the Curbside Food Scraps Composting pilot and three expansions, Prince George’s County will launch Phase 4, the final expansion of the PGC Composts program, to residents receiving County-contracted trash and recycling services.
Remaining residents will receive direct mail outlining their wheeled green cart and kitchen pail deliveries in the fall of 2023. It is anticipated that all eligible residents will receive their materials by the end of January 2024.
Our campaign slogan is “Every meal. Every scrap. Every Monday.” The program adds another sanitation collection service to the County’s weekly pickup schedule.
PGC Composts will help keep valuable materials that are not waste out of our landfill, reduce excessive greenhouse gas emissions, protect our environment, and reduce the cost and environmental impacts of trash pickup.
Eligible households will receive everything needed to start composting, including a 32-gallon wheeled green cart, a 2-gallon kitchen pail, a How-To Guide, a refrigerator magnet, a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and a list of acceptable compostable liners.
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 6 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/waste 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.
Curbside Compost Educational Materials
| How-To Compost Guide | English | Spanish/Español |
| Acceptable Items | English and Spanish/Español | |
| Acceptable Compost Liners | English | Spanish/Español |
| Curbside Compost FAQ | English | Spanish/Español |
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Other questions? Email us at pgccomposts@co.pg.md.us.
Compost Your Pumpkin
Compost you pumpkin and natural decorations like dried corn, hay, and straw with your curbside organic collections on Mondays starting in November.
Place items curbside by 6 a.m. on Mondays for pickup. Pumpkins, dried corn, hay, straw, and compostable decorations must be placed in a paper lawn/leaf bag OR the provided 32-gallon green wheeled cart with food scraps.
Pumpkins MUST be free or inorganic material such as candles, wax, artificial lighting, loose decorations and other non-bio-degradable materials.
Residents may also drop off pumpkins and other yard trim at the Public Convenience Center on Brown Station Road in Upper Marlboro during operating hours.
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How Do I Start With My Green Cart? Virtual Seminar
Held on Thursday, February, 23, 2023
Phase 3 Expansion Completed
By the end of 2023, all houses receiving County services will receive program materials to participate in the PGC Composts program.
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Holiday Schedule
Weekly curbside collection of compost materials (food scraps and yard trim) is 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).
For more information, view the Holiday Waste Collection Schedule or contact PGC311.
| Holiday | Collection Day |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | No change |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day |
No change |
| Presidents Day | No change |
| Memorial Day | The next Monday following the holiday |
| Juneteenth | No change |
| Independence Day/4th of July |
The next Monday following the holiday |
| Labor Day |
The next Monday following the holiday |
| Native American Day/ Columbus Day |
No change |
| Veterans Day |
No change |
| Thanksgiving Day |
No change |
| Christmas Day |
The next Monday following the holiday |
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.
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!
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. Read how to collect and store compostables with this downloadable "How-To Guide."
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| 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/Español). Facial or toilet tissue, plastic bags, Styrofoam™, grease or liquids of any kind, and pet waste are NOT accepted in the composting program. |
| 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 |