FOOD CYCLE COMMUNITY COMPOST PROGRAM

Thank you for six wonderful years of Food Cycle!

With careful consideration to the evolving needs of the community, we have discontinued this community-based compost program. Thank you to all who participated in and supported the program! 

Prevent. Divert. Compost.

Solutions to a Growing Food Waste Problem.

What was Food Cycle?

Solana Center was proud to bring the Food Cycle program to our community as a proof-of-concept of a successful community composting initiative. We accepted community members' food scraps and processed these organic materials on-site to create a high-quality soil supplement. The Food Cycle program was a co-op where San Diego residents and small businesses collected their organic waste in buckets using the Bokashi method and then delivered it to Solana Center to be turned into a nutritious soil amendment and distributed back into the community. The program also allowed the participants to collect finished compost for their home gardens.

What we accomplished

We appreciate the nearly 300 families and individuals who were involved in this six-year pilot program. Together we diverted an average of 15,000+ pounds of food scraps from the landfill each year! The composted food sraps have become healthy soil amendments, fueling many of your houseplants and gardens.

By participating in Food Cycle, a typical family of four diverted 45 lbs of food waste per month, preventing it from going to the landfill. This is equivalent to keeping 32 lbs of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere and transforming the food waste into a healthy soil amendment for plants.

Participating in Food Cycle raised awareness amongst participants about the type and quantity of food that gets wasted and typically led to changes in buying and cooking habits. This reduced the quantity of food waste generated, helping participants' pocketbooks and the environment. All Food Cycle participants are default environmental leaders inspiring fellow community members to do their part to reduce food waste and their environmental footprint.

Learn more about the benefits of compost and soil regeneration.

What are the options for current members?

The final month of the Food Cycle program was November 2023. All active participants have received their November recurring payment with all recurring payments canceled from December onward.

Food Cycle members are welcome to keep their buckets and continue to bokashi their food scraps at home. Our store will continue to sell bokashi bran. Your bokashi-ed materials can be added to a traditional compost pile, worm bin, or be applied in your garden. You can easily trench your bokashi-ed food scraps into your yard or garden by digging a hole about 12 inches deep outside the drip line of the tree and adding about 4-6 inches of compostable materials. As you likely know, nutrients of the bokashi-ed materials are made more readily available through the fermentation process which provides a boost to the root zone of your plants.

Keep your bucket!

Members are welcome to keep their bucket after their last drop off in November 2023.

Bokashi at home

See the resources above to continue to bokashi your food scraps at home.

Divert Your Food Scraps
Compost your bokashi-ed food scraps at home or dump them into your curb-side green bins. Your food cycle bucket is perfect for storing food scraps until pickup day.
Leave your bucket at Solana Center

If you choose to return your bucket to the Solana Center, we will repurpose it into an in-ground worm bin.

Check out our FAQ page or contact our team if you have additional questions.

The last day we accepted buckets was Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023.