Compost collection service is available
Curbside compost service is available to most homes in Kitsap County.
Service providers pick up compostable materials at your home to be composted on the Kitsap Peninsula.
All homes in North and South Kitsap are eligible for this service. Many Central Kitsap single-family homes are also eligible.
Search for your address to check for eligibility. If you're not yet eligible, sign up to be notified when services become available throughout Central Kitsap in 2026.
Guide to Curbside Compost
What goes in
Compost the following items:
- Yard waste (leaves, grass, plant trimmings, and branches less than 3" wide and 4' long)
- Food (meat, eggs, dairy, bread, grains, seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruit)
- Paper towels, napkins and coffee filters
What stays out
- NO plastic, including those marked "compostable/biodegradable/degradable" *
- NO shiny paper like cups, bowls, plates, and take-out containers
- NO pet waste, litter, bedding, animal carcasses
- NO fruit and veggie stickers and other labels
- NO toilet paper, diapers
- NO rocks or dirt
- NO lumber
- NO glass or metal
- NO fats and oils
- NO
noxious weeds (put in trash)
* For Kitsap County residents, BPI-certified compostable liner bags may be used to collect food scraps. This is the
only compostable plastic currently accepted in curbside compost carts.
Take extra care before composting these items
Some items require extra preparation before composting. Follow these guidelines to prevent contaminating the compost with plastic. If you're not sure, do not compost it.
“When trash makes it into the compost bin, it can end up in the compost that is returned to our lawns and gardens. So if you don’t like it in your garden, don’t put it in your bin." - Jeff West, founder of Olympic Organics composting in Hansville and Bremerton
| Pizza boxes | Remove stickers and labels from greasy pizza boxes. If it's not greasy, it can be recycled. |
| Egg cartons, paper | Remove stickers and labels. If you can't remove the label, compost only the parts without a label.
|
| Shredded paper | Only compost plain shredded paper. Keep plastic out of your shredder. Envelopes with plastic windows or glossy paper mailers have plastic coatings. Recycle these instead.
|
| Tea bags | Remove staples from compostable tea bags. Only compost tea bags that feel like tissue paper. Many tea bags are made of plastic and not compostable. Plastic tea bags feel silky to the touch.
|
| Wooden chopsticks, popsicle sticks
| OK to compost
|
| Weeds | Some weeds are OK to compost, but
noxious weeds should be bagged and put in the trash to prevent the spread of these harmful plants. |
| Paper bags | Plain paper bags are OK to compost, but are best for the recycling bin instead. Remove stickers and labels before composting.
Optional: Use to line your kitchen food scrap bin.
|
| Compostable liner bags | BPI-certified compostable liner bags may be used to collect food scraps. This is the only compostable plastic currently accepted in food and yard waste carts.
Optional: Use to line your kitchen food scrap bin.
|
| Newspaper | Plain newsprint paper is OK to compost, but is best for the recycling bin instead. Do not compost glossy advertisements and inserts.
Optional: Use to line your kitchen food scrap bin.
|
Include the food
Some older compost carts are labeled "Yard Waste Only." This can be confusing. Service providers in our area accept food scraps along with yard waste in the compost carts, so be sure to include kitchen food scraps in your cart.
Kitchen bins
Collect food scraps into a designated kitchen bin. Any sturdy container will work. Some people like small containers to empty frequently, while others like large containers that hold more scraps. You can prevent odor and fruit flies during summer months by storing your food scraps in the fridge or freezer.
Container ideas: Ice cream buckets, coffee cans or food storage containers. Other countertop compost containers are available online and in local home goods stores.
Noxious weeds, large branches, Christmas trees
Prevent harmful and toxic
noxious weeds from spreading. Bag them and put in the garbage.
Cut branches less than 3 inches thick down to 4 feet long. This size allows the compost process to break them down. The lid should be able to close.
Compost your unflocked Christmas tree. Cut it into 4-foot lengths before placing in your compost cart. The lid should be able to close.
Avoid fruit flies
Make some easy changes to your composting routine during fruit fly season.
Store your food scraps in
the fridge or freezer until collection day.
Use a kitchen bin with a tight-fitting lid or carbon filter lid.
If your kitchen bin fits in your fridge or freezer, store it there rather than on the counter.
Put food scraps in a
BPI-certified compostable bag or paper bag, or wrap the food scraps in newspaper.
Wash or rinse your kitchen bin after emptying it.
How composting helps
Keeps valuable resources out of the landfill. Around 42% of what the average Washington home trashes is organic waste that could have been composted.
Reduces energy and emissions from transportation. Garbage generated in Kitsap County travels over 300 miles to a landfill in Oregon, but composting is done locally on the Kitsap Peninsula.
Keeps nutrients available. Compost is shown to increase crop yields, clean toxic stormwater runoff, and repair damaged soils.
Reduces greenhouse gas. Low oxygen conditions in a landfill prevent food scraps from the normal rotting process. Instead, food scraps produces methane gas (a potent greenhouse gas).
Households with small amounts
Food scraps are heavier than other types of waste, so it takes lots of energy to transport them to the landfill. Sending even a small amount to the local composting facility makes a difference.
If your home doesn't generate much yard debris or food scraps, you can ask a neighbor to share the cost of a single compost cart.
Other composting options
Drop off clean yard waste at one of these
yard waste recycling facilities or start a
backyard compost pile or worm bin composter. Food waste is not accepted at drop-off facilities.
