Cold Creek Compost

California’s Composting Future

Composting has always been hip, but now it’s the hottest trend in the state. New state regulations are encouraging more composting than ever. Cold Creek Compost has happily offered nearby counties cutting-edge composting services for decades, and continues to be one of the few facilities permitted to handle food waste, a huge part of California’s waste stream. Thanks to Cold Creek Compost, Mendocino County and the surrounding areas are well-positioned to meet the state’s new requirements and help the state in its fight against climate change. For in-depth reading and visuals, see
SF Chronicle’s Special Report.

Sonoma County WeAct Compost Giveaway

Cold Creek Compost is a proud partner of WeAct (Windosor Earth Action Climate Team). Just recently, we donated compost to help put on a free organic compost giveaway. It was a huge success, so next week, it will be happening again! We couldn’t resist joining the effort to spread compost and compost knowledge in our community. Here are some details:

Time and Place:
Saturday April 3, 2021
From: 9am – 1pm
Location: Keiser Park—Free ½ Cu.Yd. per household

What to Bring to Haul-Your-Own:
● Shovels, gloves
● Tarps, buckets, feedbags &/or a pick-up truck (a few extra feedbags will be available)
● Covid-Safe Mask Required

Benefits of Organic Compost:
Compost replenishes the soil and boosts your plants with nutrients, microorganisms, and organic matter, improves water retention, recycles organic resources, helps conserve landfill use, and pulls carbon out of the atmosphere.

WeAct is a group of dedicated citizens in Windsor working to address the global climate emergency through local action.
Contact: 707-494-0222

Food Waste, Landfills,and Greenhouse Emissions

Reducing food waste is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Not only that, food waste is the number 1 contributor to landfills! So if you aren’t going to finish your plate, at least do your best to make sure your leftovers end up at a compost facility like ours. Few can boast a 99% recovery rate like Cold Creek Compost. That means 99% of what comes to our facility goes back out into the world as a useable product. See more in this infographic from Waste 360.

ClimateChangeInfographic_Final

Salts in Compost

Cold Creek is always interested in the cutting edge of compost research and technology. We’re always happy to discuss the science behind compost with our customers as well.

We recently came across an informative research paper published by the Environmental Research and Innovation Center at the University of Wisconson, Oshkosh. The paper breaks down the different salts in compost, their importance for plant growth, and methods for testing salt content in soils. There’s a lot more to it than whether a soil is too “salty” or not! Read the paper to learn more.

We found the paper at the Composting Council Research and Education Foundation. Check out their website for lots of other information about compost and what makes it great!

Nutrient Cost Comparison

Here at Cold Creek we’re focused on maximizing nutrient content and minimizing cost. We believe that knowing more about your fertilizer and soil will help you Buy Less, Spread Less, and Grow More. It may be possible to find a lower cost compost than Cold Creek’s, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a compost that can compete with our nutrient content per dollar. Cold Creek’s Compost is even competitive with chemical fertilizer.

To help see the benefits of our compost, we’ve put together this worksheet. Take the time to calculate how much your spending on fertilizers, and see what Cold Creek has to offer.

Buy-Less-Spread-Less-Grow-More

Cold Creek Earns Congressional Recognition for Sustainability

On August 28, 2017, U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman visited Cold Creek Compost, toured the operations, and presented Martin and Cold Creek Compost with a Sustainable North Coast Award for the company’s dedication to environmental stewardship and sustainability. Cold Creek Compost and Martin are truly honored by this award and recognition for their 22 years of sustainable materials management. Thank you Congressman Huffman and many congratulations to Martin and the Cold Creek crew!

Learn more about Huffman and his sustainability mission on his website

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, reuse, then recycle. It’s important to remember to follow these guidelines in that order. As much as we love composting your food waste here at Cold Creek Compost, we want to remind you that it’s even better if your food scraps never make it to the garbage can at all.

A huge portion of America’s food waste is perfectly good food that just couldn’t find a hungry mouth to feed before it ended up in the trash. We’ve stumbled across a few apps, aimed at businesses as well as families, that can help reduce the amount of food that gets thrown out. These apps help make the most of our food, and one was even developed by a seventh-grader! Check it out at waste360.com.

Below: Happy Holidays from Cold Creek, but don’t let your Christmas leftovers go to waste!

Commonwealth Hospital Gardens


The Commonwealth Gardens hope to provide fresh vegetables to the future Howard Memorial Hospital under construction in Willits. To support the non-profit venture, Cold Creek Compost has been donating its Agrow-Blend compost to the Hospital Gardens for years, and has also provided advice on how the Gardens might generate their own compost to recycle their own plant and food waste. Cold Creek hopes to continue to support the Gardens as they grow.

Brochure Cover See Cold Creek's comprehensive Product Catalog for details on our products and their benefits. Product Catalog
Book CoverCold Creek Compost is proud to be featured in the children's book Composting Abbie, a tale of how a whale can be composted, and how a tragedy can be turned into an opportunity. More
  • Keep on Trucking

    October 11, 2023

    We can’t get you your compost if there’s not a truck to haul it. We wanted to give a shout out to our many amazing trucking partners, especially during this Fall busy season. These truckers go above and beyond to deliver up windy roads throughout Northern California, no matter the weather.

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  • Boonville Barn Collective: Compost-Fed Chilis

    August 14, 2023

    We love to see our customers get well-deserved recognition. A local chili farm in Boonville, CA called the Boonville Barn Collective grows a variety of highly acclaimed chilis. They were recently featured on PBS’s show America’s Heartland. Take a look at this short snippet about their farm:

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  • Composting: How It Works

    July 17, 2023

    The creation of compost has a long history dating back thousands of years, and the product itself is still highly popular as soil amendment for both large-scale farms and small home gardens. However, most people only have a vague idea of what compost is and definitions can vary. In simple terms, compost is made by […]

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  • CARB Regulations and Compost

    June 27, 2023

    Any press is good press? Not always. Cold Creek Compost is happy to make the news in AgAlert’s latest publication, but the article points out a tricky subject in our industry. California is well-known for its stringent environmental regulation, and Cold Creek Compost has long felt the strain of those regulations. While our primary function […]

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