No 'waste' of time: South Loop woman rallies neighbors to compost

One woman's initiative sparked collective efforts to compost food waste and reduce methane — a powerful greenhouse gas.

Earth Month in April may have come to an end, but sustainability initiatives, of course, continue year-round. Chicago-area residents are taking action literally at home, like South Loop resident Linda Pulik, who introduced composting to her 49-unit condo building in 2018.

It was a fitting move for Pulik, a designer who has taught a class called “Design for Social Impact” at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

Pulik and her neighbors in Printers Row help put a dent in a major but underrecognized environmental problem: methane from food waste. Organic waste in landfills rots and releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carb on dioxide.

Food loss and waste account for 8% to 10% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions — nearly five times the total emissions from the aviation sector, according to the United Nations Environment Program. Each year, Chicago sends more than 55 million pounds of food waste to landfills.

Pulik’s condo association pays local company the Urban Canopy to collect one 35-gallon compost bin every two weeks. Composting adds only a few dollars each month to residents’ monthly assessment fees.

“The low cost was one of the reasons I was successful in convincing the board to start the composting program,” said Pulik.

Her building still needs the same number of dumpsters for trash, so composting hasn’t reduced garbage fees. But Pulik hopes “that the existence of our composting and recycling programs is mitigating the amount of trash that we produce collectively.”

Urban Canopy’s collection fees range according to location, frequency and quantity. But it typically charges $20 per 35-gallon bin per pickup, said Tom Straus of Urban Canopy. For homes, it charges $30 a month to collect a 5-gallon compost bucket every two weeks, according to its website.

In Pulik’s building, the compost bin is in the lower garage, so the odor is isolated. Pulik is in charge of letting Urban Canopy into the building for collection.

Letting organic waste sit for two weeks wasn’t a major issue for residents, she said. Their bigger concern was which containers to use at home. So Pulik gave some neighbors countertop compost containers to try before they bought their own.

Fruit flies are admittedly a problem, especially in the summer. But Pulik got her board to provide residents with liners for their countertop compost bins. She also built fruit fly traps and sometimes covers compost in the main bin with a liner to trap flies. People sometimes put items that can't be composted in the bin, but Pulik created signs to deter that.

Straus said common concerns about composting involve pests and smells. But Urban Canopy offers "squirrel lids" to prevent critters from chewing on buckets.

To control odor, Urban Canopy suggests keeping food waste in the freezer, as well as waiting to add liquids until a few days before pickup.

The company reminds people that their organic waste would sit in regular trash containers anyway. Straus pointed out that compost collection can actually prevent odor. Urban Canopy swaps used bins with clean ones and sanitizes them “so there is no persistent residue like in your regular dumpsters,” he said.

Urban Canopy has offered compost services in the Chicago area since 2011. It takes organic waste to processing facilities such as Green Era in Auburn Gresham, Harbor View in South Deering and Patriot Acres in Des Plaines that produce finished compost.

Green Era’s system even captures methane and processes it into renewable natural gas that’s injected into the utility grid.

For Pulik’s building, one 35-gallon bin doesn’t seem like enough, but she noted that the container isn’t always full.

“I’ll confess, that always disappoints me,” she said. Managing compost collection adds responsibilities, but Pulik considers the initiative a success.

And her building’s compost bin is part of a larger, collective impact. Last year Urban Canopy composted 4.3 million pounds of organic waste from the Chicago area. It expects to double that in 2026 after merging with peer Collective Resource last year. Composting makes a difference, said Straus.

The methane emissions Urban Canopy’s composting services prevent “far outweigh the emissions generated from picking the material up,” said Straus, citing metrics from the Environmental Protection Agency's waste reduction calculator.

“Plus, being able to return these valuable nutrients to the soil and allow the Chicagoland area to fertilize farms, gardens and houseplants without using harmful chemical fertilizers is its own reward,” Straus added.

Compost might even end up at Urban Canopy’s 1-acre farm in Auburn Gresham that transformed a former vacant lot. Vegetables, herbs and flowers grow there — yet another example of new life in humble places.

Amy Yee is a reporter for the Sun-Times. She is the author of “Far From the Rooftop of the World: Travels among Tibetan Refugees on Four Continents,” with a foreword by the Dalai Lama.