Library Park’s composting bin provides the South End with both a splash of color and a civic service.
Since 2014, the City of Boston’s Project Oscar has distributed dumpster-sized bins into which residents can drop their food scraps for use in composting. As part of the recent expansion of the program, a bin has been placed in our own Library Park!
Instructions on the compost bin
The compost bins are as ornamental as they are functional. The City worked with local artists to customize the bins through its Public Space Invitational civic design competition. Library Park’s bin dons a semi-abstract explosion of floral imagery in a rainbow palette that brightens the area with colorful cheer.
The Library Park bin will be managed by the City’s Public Works Department (PWD) and serviced by Black Earth Compost. On the exterior of the bin is helpful signage with clear directions about what can and cannot be dropped in for composting.
Additional educational materials about composting provided by the PWD are available here.
Contact information for questions about Project Oscar and composting
In addition to Project Oscar, the City runs a number of other initiatives aimed at expanding community engagement around composting and Zero Waste. Its ambitious Zero Waste Plan strives to reach a recycling rate of 80% by 2035 and 90% by 2050. As of 2019, the rate was somewhere around 25%. By far the largest contributor to the waste stream is food waste, which makes up about one-third of the total. This represents a huge opportunity, as composting is a simple way to recycle food waste.