Compost and Yard Waste | Waukesha County

Turn Your Yard Waste into Useful Products!

Let’s look at grass clippings, leaves, and weeds from our lawns as opportunities — not waste! Instead of relying on businesses to collect, compost, bag, and sell this material back to you, why not make your own compost for free? Compost can amend clay soils, improve water-holding capacity, fertilize your lawn, and help grow better vegetables.

Home Composting Survey

Please take our Home Composting Survey. You can share how you've made composting a regular habit and help us track our efforts!

Composting Survey

Composting Dashboard

Check out our Waukesha County Composting Dashboard to see how much and what is being composted.

Composting Dashboard

Compost Bin Sale

We are sold out of compost bins! The drop in sessions are still available to everyone!

Event will be held at Retzer Nature Center
Free drop in sessions from 10:30am - 12:30pm
Check out the video below on how to start!

compost bins

Introduction to Home Composting

Why Compost?

Recycle Yard and Kitchen Waste: Composting is an excellent way to recycle leaves, grass clippings, yard trimmings, and even kitchen scraps at home. Finished compost is a great organic plant food.
Enhance Soil Health: Soils with added compost are healthier and yield healthier plants.
Save Money: Composting can save you money by reducing the need to buy soil amendments from gardening stores.
Manage Yard Waste: Home composting helps manage yard waste that landfills do not accept, conserving landfill space.
Reduce Landfill Waste: Approximately 30% of garbage headed to landfills is food waste, much of which is compostable. By composting, you reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. Once items are placed in the trash and taken to the landfill - that is the end of their journey. There is no sorting, recovery, reuse or purpose. It is a common misconception that items decompose quickly in a landfill.

Through the University of Arizona, these carrots were found to be in the landfill for 10 years!

Getting Started

To start composting, you need two broad categories of materials: “Greens” and “Browns”.

Green Materials: Rich in nitrogen, these include grass clippings and vegetable scraps.
Brown Materials: Carbon-rich materials such as leaves and straw.

Your compost bin requires a balanced diet, just like you! Use a ratio of 2-3 parts brown material to every 1 part green material.

Steps to Compost:

Choose Your Method: You can buy a compost bin or heap your compost into a pile. Check local ordinances for specific composting requirements in your area.
Mix Materials: Combine green and brown materials in the proper ratio.
Moisture: Water your compost to be as moist as a wrung-out sponge.
Turn the Pile: While not necessary, turning your compost pile once a week can speed up the composting process and ensure it has the correct moisture level.

By composting at home, you turn waste into a valuable resource, benefiting your garden and the environment.

Looking for more information on how start composting at home? WDNR and Recycling Connections have great resources to help you get started!

Leaves
Grass Clippings
Small sticks
Kitchen scraps
Used potting soil
Paper and Cardboard
Garden Debris
Hay and Straw
Natural Fibers

Persistent weeds
Meat and bones
Dairy
Oils and fats
Cat or dog waste
Diseased plants
Ash
Treated Lumber

Can't Compost at Home?

Local composting pick-up services tailored for residential homes, making sustainable waste disposal simple and accessible.

Choose from these providers to help transform your organic waste into valuable compost!

Brew City Compost

Compost Crusader

Waste Not LLC

Mow Them

Leaves are rich in carbon, phosphorus, and potassium; essential nutrients for plant health. Mow your leaves along with the grass during fall and leave the rest to nature!

Mowing Tips

Leave your mower set to the same height you use to mow your lawn
Use a rotary mower that chips the leaves
Mow when the leaves are dry
Make sure that mower blades are sharp and use a slow movement with the mower to help chip the leaves finer
You may need 2-3 passes with the mower to chip leaves fine enough. Leaves must be small enough to fall through the turf and expose grass to sunlight.
Chipped leaves should settle into the turf in a day or two, especially with rain
Mow leaves often

Use Them for Mulch

The benefits of mulches are moisture and temperature moderation and erosion prevention.
Add 3 inch deep layer around plants

Disposal

Local opportunities for curbside pick-up or drop-off sites differ by municipality.

Use Them for Mulch

Moisture retention
Temperature moderation
Erosion prevention
Place 3 inches of mulch around plants

Make a Brush Pile for Wildlife

In more natural settings, yard brush and branches can form a brush pile for wildlife.
Brush piles for nesting, den sites, and shelters.

Disposal

Local opportunities for curbside pick-up or drop-off sites differ by municipality.

Private Drop-off Location

Waste Management Landfill (Orchard Ridge)

W124N9355 Boundary Rd

Menomonee Falls

Call 262-253-8620 for fees

Grass cycling is leaving grass clippings on the lawn to decompose.

When you mow regularly, clippings quickly decompose and release nutrients to fertilize the lawn.

Why Grass cycle?

Reduces yard waste by 20% - 40%
Saves the time, trouble, and expense of bagging
Saves gas and energy required to transport and process grass clippings

Reduces the need for fertilizer.

When you leave grass clippings on the lawn, you need as much as one third less fertilizer
Reduces the demand for water
Provides moisture and nutrients to the soil and cushioning layers to reduce wear

Getting Started

Let your grass clippings lie where they fall. The clippings are over 90% water and decompose rapidly.
Leaving clippings on the lawn replace one entire nitrogen application for the summer.

Steps for disposal

Put them in a clear plastic bag
Label bag "invasive plants- approved by WI DNR for landfilling"
Set in your curbside garbage bin

Invasive weeds should not be composted. Home compost piles do not get hot enough for a long enough time to destroy the seeds of these plants!

For more information on handling invasive weeds, see the DNR website on Invasive Plants.