Public Works City of Shreveport, Louisiana operates a yard waste compost facility

The City of Shreveport, Louisiana operates a yard waste compost facility which converts yard waste collected from city residents into a usable organic compost. This facility allows the City to conserve very valuable landfill space and also provides an excellent soil amendment, which we call "Shrevepost". Accomplishing this goal requires a carefully planned, well-operated facility that produces quality compost that consumers can confidently use safely and effectively.

The three main ways of ensuring consumer confidence and material quality are

(1)Quality control inspections of incoming materials;

(2) Material testing to demonstrate product quality and

(3) In-process control to ensure proper composting and a consistent product.

To ensure a high-quality and consistent compost, only organic yard and garden waste is accepted at the compost facility. These materials include leaves, grass clippings, brush, hedge trimmings, branches, sod, garden trimmings and any vegetative trimmings. Any material not suitable for composting will not be accepted at the compost facility.Shreveport compost is for sale at Reeves Dirt Pit 318-797-8921 near LSU-Shreveport and Cash Point Dirt Pit 318-752-1800on Highway 3 north of Bossier City, Louisiana.

Shrevepost is donated to the public once per year during the winter. For more information on Shrevepost donations, call 318-673-6268 .The process by which yard waste is transformed in to a marketable compost material is accomplished by utilizing the windrow composting method in which the yard waste is maintained under predominately aerobic conditions. Composting involves a number of sequential steps which are described below. Briefly, these steps include:

1. Processing
Removal of non-compostable contaminates such as plastic bags, cans, bottles, metals, etc., and segregating of different types of yard waste depending on carbon and nitrogen levels.

2. Material size reduction
The yard waste is mechanically processed into smaller (less than two inches) ,relative uniform particles. The small, uniform, mixed material will decompose more rapidly and uniformly, generating a higher quality product.

3. Windrows
After processing, the yard waste is placed in long, uniform piles called windrows. These windrows will not exceed six feet high and fourteen feet wide at the base. Adequate height and width are important to sustain the optimum temperature and moisture levels for rapid decomposition. The windrows will be placed far enough apart to allow processing equipment easy access between them to turn the windrows regularly.

4. Finishing the compost
The initial rapid decomposition of yard waste into compost will slow as the materials stabilize. With regular turning, the material will be normally stable in three to four months. To improve quality and appearance (marketability) of the end product, the compost will be passed through a screen to remove oversized particles and transferred to curing piles. The curing piles allow the material to stabilize .

5. Testing
Testing of the finished compost assures users of the quality and safety of the compost.

Contact Information

Email: webmaster@shreveportla.gov

Copyright Â© 2008 City of Shreveport, LA