Medford’s municipally-funded curbside program begins in July 2024. Enrollment is limited in year one, so residents are encouraged to join the waitlist ASAP. To be eligible, residents must live at an address with 4 units or fewer.
Interested in starting service sooner? Secure your spot in the free program when you sign up for Garbage to Garden’s subscription service at the preferred vendor rate of $8.99/month. After July 1, there will no longer be a monthly fee for residents to participate.

Garbage to Garden Medford participants do not need to sign up again. All eligible active accounts will automatically be transitioned to the free service in July.
Please note, there will be some changes to your service in July. Your account login will look a bit different, and you will receive instructions in June about how to set up a new account login.
From your new account, you will be able to submit service requests, update your account information, and purchase liners and compost, if you like. Garbage to Garden will no longer provide a new liner each week, but participants will be able to purchase these through us, if you wish to do so.

To be eligible, residents must live at an address with 4 units or fewer within the City of Medford, Massachusetts.
Service for larger multi-family buildings can be arranged through a private contract with your building manager. Landlords and building managers should contact us for a quote and to set up this service.

Beginning in July 2024, there will be no monthly fee to participate in Medford’s curbside composting program. This service is funded by the municipal budget as part of the City’s solid waste program. In order to reach Medford’s climate goals, Medford prioritized funding this program as a key aspect to sustainable waste management, removing cost barriers to residents and encouraging widespread adoption. Additional funding was secured through a MassDEP grant.
As a result, the annual budget cap provides flexibility in the total number of households enrolled over the course of each year, allowing roughly 6,000 households to participate in year one.

Each eligible household is entitled to receive their own curbside bin. If you do decide to share with a neighbor, we do ask that each participating household sign up and keep your account active so that you can receive program updates and communications, have the ability to submit service requests or purchase liners, and so that our reporting to the City of Medford accurately reflects participation.
If you are sharing a bin and decide you would like your own bin after all, contact Customer Service to request your bin.

These items can be put in your curbside composting bin. If it grows, it goes!

• All food items! Cooked, raw, spoiled, frozen, etc.
• Coffee grounds and filters
• Non synthetic tea bags (remove staples)
• Eggs and eggshells
• Grains, pasta, and bread
• Fruits and vegetables (remove stickers)
• Pits, peels, seeds and rinds
• Cookies, cake, and candy
• Yogurt, ice cream, cheese, and butter
• Meat and Seafood (including raw)
• Bones and shells
• Food soiled napkins and paper towels
• Houseplants and flowers
• Pet food
• Nuts and coconut shells
• Hair, pet fur, and feathers
• Brown paper bags (for lining bins)

The following items are not accepted in your curbside composting bin. Contaminated bins will not be collected.

• Plastic: Cups, containers, food and candy wrappers, plastic wrap, etc.
• Plastic Bags: shopping bags, garbage bags, produce bags, chip bags, etc.
• Cartons: milk, juice, ice cream, broth, and soup containers
• Take out containers and cups (unless certified compostable)
• Grass Clippings (use our leaf and yard waste pickup service instead)
• Christmas trees and wreaths (use our Christmas tree collection instead)
• Used compostable diapers
• Laundry lint or dryer sheets
• Mail, shiny paper, and magazines
• Plastic and waxed cardboard
• Shredded paper
• Textiles
• Chemically soiled materials
• Dog or cat waste
• Rubber bands, twist ties, and staples
• Produce stickers
• Meal box insulation
• Packing peanuts
• Pizza boxes

Composting at a commercial/industrial scale is much different than composting in your backyard. When composted at the commercial scale, these break down properly through the composting process.
It is true that you should not add animal products, large quantities of food-soiled paper, and other items on our list of acceptable items to your backyard compost pile. These items can cause odor issues and attract pests in a home compost, but more importantly, they can carry bacteria and pathogens. The high temperatures reached in thermophilic composting mitigate the risk of pathogens and disease resulting from the inclusion of these items.

We will accept brown paper bags or certified compostable bags –look for the BPI, CMA or OK Compost certified compostable logos. You may NOT use plastic bags as liners. Once enrolled, you can order liners through your MyAccount login if you wish to do so. Certified compostable liners are also available online or at your local grocery store. We use the brand BioBags.
We ask that all residents use liners. This makes collection much easier for the drivers and helps keep your collection bins clean. Residents are responsible for maintaining their own bins, and we do recommend rinsing each week after service.

Your collection day will align with your weekly trash day, and we ask that your bin be placed curbside before 6am (or the night before) to ensure collection.
When onboarding begins for this program, you will be told which day of the week your food scraps will be collected; if this does not align with your trash day let us know so we can verify your address on file.

Do place your curbside bin where you put your trash and recycling. However, if your trash is collected in a location other than directly out front (like in an alley or side street), please contact us to let us know so that we can provide notes for the driver.

When there are holiday changes to our collection schedule, we will send an email notification in advance of the upcoming holiday. We will also post reminders to our social media pages, your account login, and on this website's home page.

In the case of a Monday holiday, or one observed on Monday, all routes will be delayed by one day throughout the week. This may not always align with your trash and recycling collection schedule, so please make sure to review schedule email alerts carefully.

If you need a bin replacement, please submit a bin replacement request through your account, or email info@garbagetogarden.org. New bins will be delivered on your following service day.

Food scraps collected in Medford will be composted at local farms and composting facilities. Learn more about the composting process here.

We do not accept yard waste. Please refer to Medford’s yard waste collection here https://www.medfordma.org/departments/dpw

Yes! Bagged compost will be available for purchase for active participants through your MyAccount, and will be delivered on your next service day.

Residents are responsible for maintaining their own bins. At a minimum, we recommend rinsing weekly after collection. Your 12-gallon curbside bin has a latching lid that seals in odors, and the use of compostable liners help keep the bin clean week to week. The liners also help ensure our drivers are able to fully empty your bin on collection day, and make it easier to keep your bin clean. Additionally, even if your bin is not full, we recommend placing it out for service each week to reduce how long you are keeping food scraps for. With particularly smelly food items (like meat scraps, seafood shells, or expired dairy), it can be helpful to store those in a small container in the fridge or freezer until your service day.

Like preventing odors, unwanted pests should not be an issue if your bin is properly maintained. Keeping the bin closed and secured with the latch will help prevent attracting flies or bugs, and if the bin is kept outside, can prevent rodents and other critters from accessing your food scraps. Using the fridge/freezer method (mentioned in the answer above) with meat, dairy, or seafood scraps can be an extra precaution for avoiding attracting pests to your bin.

Each apartment or unit at eligible addresses (those with 1 to 4 units) should sign up separately in order to receive their own curbside bin. If you do decide to share a bin, we do ask that each participating unit keep an active account so that you can receive alerts and program updates, purchase liners if needed, and so that we can provide accurate reporting to the City of Medford as to how many are participating in this program.

If you will be away for longer than 3 weeks, please notify Garbage to Garden so that your account is not marked as inactive. To do so, you can log into your account to ‘Request a Temporary Service Suspension’ and enter the dates you will be away. As there are a limited number of spaces available in this program, we want to make sure those who have signed up are making use of this service.

If you no longer want to participate, we ask that you cancel your service so your spot can be offered to another resident. If you are moving, please notify us so that your position can be offered to the next resident. If you are moving within Medford to an eligible address, we can transfer service to your new residence so you can continue to participate. You do not need to sign up again for your new address.

Residents on the wait list will have the opportunity to verify/update their address as needed prior to beginning service. An account login will be created for you, at which time you will receive email instructions and will be prompted to confirm or update your address. You do not need to sign up again with your new address. If you move from an ineligible address to an eligible address, please contact Garbage to Garden Customer Service to update your address and your wait list status.

Our Customer Service team would be happy to help you sign up for this program. Contact us at info@garbagetogarden.org or call us at 617-977-4547 for assistance.