We Compost collects 186K pounds food waste

Clark County’s community-based composting program collected a record-breaking 186,000 pounds of food waste in 2025.

The program, We Compost, celebrated its success with a special presentation and demonstration Feb. 12 at Real Life Foursquare Church. The Vancouver church, 1812 Columbia St., serves as one of the program’s 17 community hubs.

“Every year, we’ve been able to add hubs and do more community outreach to get more people using those hubs,” said Mary Hurley, senior outreach specialist for We Compost. “It’s been a real beautiful community effort, and we are definitely seeing the results of everyone coming together to make this happen.”

The city of Vancouver is the only jurisdiction in Clark County to offer curbside pickup of food waste. We Compost gives other county residents a place to drop food waste so it stays out of landfills, thereby reducing greenhouse gases, Hurley said.

“When food is landfilled, it gets covered over and over with layers, and it doesn’t have access to oxygen. Instead of breaking down into compost, it just produces methane gas, which is a very potent greenhouse gas,” Hurley said.

The program has come a long way since it began four years ago, she said. The first year ended with just over 1,000 pounds of waste collected. By 2024, the program was collecting 50,000 pounds of food scraps each year. That number more than tripled in 2025.

The collection bins accept any food, including bones, meat, seafood, baked goods, coffee grounds, dairy products and produce. The material is then hauled to Dirt Huggers, a composting and landscape supply business in Dallesport.

“I’m just so impressed with how much material you’ve been able to divert and also the quality of material,” Dirt Hugger co-founder Pierce Louis told those gathered for the celebration.

Of the 57,000 tons of compost materials Dirt Hugger processed in 2025, Louis said around 15,000 tons came from the Vancouver area, with about 5 percent of that being food waste.

“Food waste is the No. 1 thing that has environmental impacts. Your brush debris is OK, but food waste is really where the leverage happens,” he said.

We Compost is planning to add an 18th community hub sometime this year. While an exact opening date or location hasn’t been decided yet, Hurley said We Compost expects to announce the new hub within the next couple of months.