Strengthening LA's Green Spaces through Community Composting

Green space, park access, and trees

Central LA East LA South LA San Gabriel Valley West LA San Fernando Valley County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Los Angeles County generates over 4,000 tons of food waste daily—most of it ending up in landfills, worsening climate change through methane emissions. Meanwhile, one in four households in Los Angeles faces food insecurity, highlighting a stark disconnect between waste and need. Edible food that could nourish communities and organic scraps that could be composted to enrich soil are instead discarded.

Current organic waste programs in Los Angeles perpetuate edible food waste and require trucking compostable scraps over 100 miles to industrial facilities—exacerbating pollution, straining infrastructure, and eliminating local reuse potential.

Community composting presents a scalable solution. Enriching LA’s green spaces with local compost revitalizes soils, strengthens tree health, improves biodiversity, supports carbon sequestration, and fosters climate resilience—particularly in historically disinvested neighborhoods with limited access to green infrastructure.

The Strengthening LA's Green Spaces through Community Composting project will expand LA Compost’s community composting and education initiative, which transforms food waste into a resource while activating green spaces and advancing environmental justice. By building a decentralized network of compost hubs, LA Compost diverts organic waste from landfills, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supports local food systems, and enriches urban soils. Our compost hubs are strategically located in community spaces including schools, community gardens, farmers markets, and parks to increase accessibility to and increase the use of these outdoor spaces.

LA Compost provides hands-on, bilingual (English and Spanish) STEAM-aligned educational programming that empowers K–12 students and community members to explore composting, soil science, and environmental health. Our interactive educational offerings– including microscopy workshops, field trips, soil painting, and compost system maintenance, in addition to on-site learning experiences —encourage curiosity and make STEAM learning tangible and relevant. In addition, this year we are launching the Magic Soil Bus, a mobile classroom that offers STEAM programming on composting and soil science for K-12 youth at public schools and community events. Rooted in sustainability, community knowledge, and cultural identity, our programming builds students’ connection to the land, equips them to succeed in STEAM, and to become climate advocates.

With the support of the LA2050 Grants Challenge award, LA Compost’s work will create healthier green spaces and healthier communities in Los Angeles County by expanding operations of our community compost and educational programs. During this grant period, we will launch a new compost hub, serve 3000+ residents, and expand youth STEAM-based learning across Los Angeles. These efforts will revitalize local green spaces, reduce landfill-bound food waste, and support green careers.
In the long term, LA Compost is working to shift public norms around food waste and traditional urban land use. We are scaling a hyperlocal, community-led model for managing food waste and reconnecting Angelinos to the soil, that can be replicated across Los Angeles County. Our project envisions an LA County where all residents have access to green spaces nourished by community compost and where food is never wasted but returned to the soil for the next cycle of life.