Key City and Compost Crew Combine Forces
The vision for Key City Compost started in 2016 during the Frederick County, Maryland process to review the state of solid waste in the county. The County Executive put together a team to study methods in which our community could decrease volumes sent to far away landfills, increase sustainability, and increase local solutions to waste and recycling. This process exposed the fact that Frederick County had no stakeholders when it came to food waste collection, and food waste disposal (industrial composting).
Key City Compost started in response to that lack of infrastructure by picking up five gallon buckets of food scraps for friends and family using the trunk of our car. Over time, the company added more trucks, and a growing dedicated team that diverts several tons per week, sometimes per day, of food waste from landfill.
Both companies have worked over the last seven years to make food scrap collection more convenient to residents of the greater Washington, DC area. Compost Crew is now the official hauler for the City of Frederick residents and businesses.
List of Services
Residential Collection
Local to Maryland, D.C, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania region only. Please reach out if you need connected to a Residential Composting Service in your State or City.
Key Compostables
Shop from thousands of affordable, renewable & sustainable products without the hassle of a mainline distributor.
Commercial Collection
Local to Maryland, D.C, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania region only. Please reach out if you need connected to a Commercial Composting Service in your State or City.
Bulk Farm Feast Compost
Add nutrients to your farms, gardens and potted plants with bulk compost. Available seasonally for pick-up and delivery. Inquire here.
Collect
Similar to a recycling service, we collect food waste and other organic material from the local community to be composted and reused. We collect from both residential and commercial customers.
Compost
Nearly 40% of our solid waste may be composted! We use cutting edge technology and techniques to compost everything from meat and dairy products to grains and oily foods, soiled napkins, and more.
Cultivate
Finished compost can be used in the garden in your backyard to the crops on our local farms. It provides a slow release of nutrients and provides a strong and fertile foundation for plants to flourish.
FAQ
What is composting?
Composting is the natural aerobic (with oxygen) decomposition of organic matter into nutrient rich soil. We collect food scraps from your home or business weekly and get them into the composting process and out of the landfill. Why compost?
- Composting diverts our food scraps from landfills and incinerators.
- Our landfills are filling up, leading to longer and longer hauling distances, higher greenhouse gas emissions, higher waste management costs, and less space available for our trash. Food waste constitutes 22% of discarded municipal solid waste in America.
- When food scraps are left in a landfill or incinerated they release methane, a greenhouse gas that is 80 times as potent as CO₂.
- Composting is a sustainable alternative that puts the nutrients from our food scraps back into the earth and, eventually, our food system by using the finished compost as a fertilizer for local farms.
- Composting is the final step to completing a truly sustainable food
What can I compost with Compost Crew?
In short, you can compost all types of food — yes, including meat and dairy — and soiled paper products. Take a peek at our graphic list below and download!
For a comprehensive list, click here. We also have a translated the list into Spanish.