We are making changes to our Rewards Programs, effective immediately, as part of our ongoing efforts to combat contamination in our compost buckets.

Since Greener Bay Compost’s inception in July 2021, we have worked diligently to keep the contents of our buckets contaminant-free and our compost clean. Despite our best efforts, however, we continue to find contaminants (mostly produce stickers) in one-fifth to one-third of our buckets.

Because we consider this amount of contamination unacceptable, effective immediately, we will still be weighing the contents of all of our Residential subscribers buckets and keeping track of the resulting weights for our own purposes, but will be giving zero weight–based credit for contaminated buckets under our Waste Reduction Rewards Program (www.GBCompost.com/Rewards).

For the purposes of this policy change, a “contaminated bucket” means a bucket which contains one or more materials from the Not Acceptable side of our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials (a copy of which can be viewed and downloaded at www.GBCompost.com/List).

Please note that it will be entirely up to Greener Bay Compost’s discretion as to whether a particular material is considered Not Acceptable (using the above-mentioned List as a reference). That said, produce stickers are our primary concern, and our finding such stickers inside our buckets will, from this day forward, always result in zero weight–based credit for the contents of the buckets they are found in, regardless of the number of stickers found.

To be clear, this change will apply to all buckets picked up from our Residential subscribers (both Pickup and Drop-Off) after today, including those we will be picking up tomorrow (Sunday, 3/12/2023).

PLEASE NOTE: The contents of bags we receive outside of our buckets, which may contain high-carbon materials such as plain/matte paper and cardboard, will not be affected by this policy change at this time. What this means is that, for the time being, a subscriber may receive zero credit for the contents of their bucket, while still receiving credit for the Acceptable Materials inside said bags. This policy is, however, subject to change at any time.

Subscribers are, if not already doing so, strongly encouraged to remove all produce stickers, rubber bands, twist ties, etc. from fresh produce as soon as they get it home, to dramatically reduce the chances of these contaminants finding their way into their buckets, and costing them credit for the rest of their bucket contents.

While this change will affect our Leaderboard (www.GBCompost.com/Leaderboard) updates we perform each week, it should be noted that we will not be emailing subscribers to notify them of whether they’ve received zero credit for their bucket contents, as we simply do not have the time or resources to do so. Likewise, we will not necessarily be taking photos of all contamination we find in buckets going forward, nor emailing subscribers about such contamination (unless we deem it necessary for us to do so).

Subscribers are encouraged to check the Leaderboard at regular intervals to keep track of their own credits from week to week. If a subscriber would like to know what, if any, credit they’ve received for any particular bucket, they may contact us (www.GBCompost.com/Contact) to inquire about this.

If you have any questions or concerns about this policy change, please let us know. We are always here to help.

Until next time, best wishes and happy composting!