In an effort to reduce organic waste in landfills, the IWMA provides SLO County residents a free compost pail that can be picked up from our office or requested from your solid waste hauler.

All of your organic waste can go into your food scrap pail, and once your pail is full, it can be dumped into your green waste bin. 

Please note that any sort of plastic bag (including those marketed as compostable/biodigradeable) cannot be used in your compost pail. While they may break down over time, they do not decompose at the same rate as something like an orange peel or a slice of bread. These bags contaminate our anerobic digester, where our food scraps are turned into compost for local wine and agriculture companies to utilize (so cool! - check it out here). The IWMA's compost pails are dishwasher safe and shouldn't need a lining: you can place food scraps directly into the pail, and then dump directly into your curbside green bin when it gets full. If you do want to line your pail, you can use a piece of newspaper, brown paper bag or a paper towel instead. 

In an effort to reduce any unwanted smells coming from your pail, we suggest rinsing your pail regularly and sprinkling in some baking soda (your coffee grounds will help absorb odors too). Freezing the contents of your pail until garbage day also helps keep odors at bay! 

The SLO County IWMA office is located at 870 Osos Street, San Luis Obispo CA 93401 and we are open Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm 

*If you are not able to stop by our office during the week, please give us a call to make arrangements!