Free Compost Program
Berkeley residents can pick up free compost at the Berkeley Marina, as weather and availability allow.
The City of Berkeley provides free compost to Berkeley residents. Compost is available for pickup year-round at the Berkeley Marina.
Compost loads are delivered every Friday, usually by 6:30 a.m. A second load is delivered on Tuesdays when demand is high in the spring/summer (March-August).
Note: Community members can pick up compost at any time, subject to availability.
Location: Berkeley Marina, on the East side of Marina Blvd, just South of the Doubletree Hotel
The free compost is first-come, first-served, and City staff cannot guarantee or confirm availability of compost. To pick up compost, you should bring your own shovels, containers, and safety gear to load the materials yourself. Pick-up trucks must tarp their loads.
The compost originally comes from organic materials such as green waste and food scraps collected curbside in the City of Berkeley. The organic materials are brought to a processing plant in the Central Valley where they are converted into a highly aerobic, microbial compost. The compost making process involves the careful mixing of the organic materials and monitoring of the carbon to nitrogen ratio, CO2, temperature, and moisture. On rare occasions, bad weather in the Central Valley can halt the loading at the processing plant which cancels the compost delivery to Berkeley.
