Breaking it Down: A model for composting in Providence

Twenty-five years ago, when he was a gardener in Providence, Michael Bradlee, the founder of Earth Appliance, asked composting questions of clients, friends and his professional colleagues. He discovered there was a disconnect between the general public’s perception and what people were actually doing. He would hear people say things like, “Oh yeah, I compost meat in my backyard. It’s fine as long as you bury it deep enough in the pile.” After having these conversations, Bradlee began making his own composting site for the community. Today the site is called Earth Appliance and is a model compost depot that accepts all kinds of food scraps, and Bradlee hopes his model will be replicated throughout the city. 

The North Providence location (50 Radcliffe Ave) of the compost depot holds special meaning for Bradlee and the community. Bradlee was once working a table at the Armory farmers market to promote his composting program when a woman approached him. He did not know her, but she knew him. She told him that in the mid 1970s and early 1980s, she used to garden where Earth Appliance is currently located. She explained how her family needed a space to garden after coming to Providence from Laos, and her neighbor offered his backyard to them. The land became an informal community garden known as Frey Gardens. 

“That’s a very special place,” she told him. “I know, I know,” Bradlee said while nodding his head vigorously in agreement.

 In 2012, a portion of Frey Gardens was given to Bradlee for his compost site. Today, Bradlee’s site takes up about one-fifth of the space, which remains an informal community garden. The site also has a floral shop and greenhouses. 

Currently, all the community garden’s soil is provided by Earth Appliance. The soil, which sits in a big pile in the back corner of the garden, is made through a process called hot composting. Bradlee takes the scraps that Earth Appliance members drop off and adds those scraps to leaves. The leaves and the scraps are mixed together by hand in a modified recycle bin. At the top of the bin is a hasp lock to keep the rats and coyotes out. At the bottom of the bin is a pipe to which Bradlee attaches a blower to give the compost air.

The key to making good soil involves checking scrap contents and the ratio of leaves and brown material to food scraps. “It’s much like cooking,” Bradlee says while opening the bin, “and you have to have a good recipe.” If the compost is made in the right ratio, the plants absorb the soil’s nutrients without an excess amount left behind.  Some industrial fertilizers have too many nutrients, causing runoff of phosphorus and nitrogen, which can contaminate drinking water. 

On a cold winter day, Bradlee sticks his hand in the bin where members drop their scraps. He finds a brown bowl (like the kind you see at Chipotle) and scoops it out. “See this?” he says. “We can’t have this. These moldable, compostable containers contain PFAS.” 

PFAS is shorthand for perfluoro alkyl sulfonates. It is often found in nonstick coating and microwaveable popcorn. The PFAS in the bowl cannot break down into microorganisms, so it sticks around in the soil where plants can absorb them. If a person eats that plant, the PFAS make their way into the body. According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, PFAS contamination puts people at a higher risk for certain cancers and can increase cholesterol levels. 

Currently, Earth Appliance has 130 registered members. For organizational and scientific reasons such as data collection, Bradlee asks everyone who uses the site to register (which is a free process) and in turn, he gives them a five gallon bucket to collect their food scraps at home. A landscaping company drops off its leaves at the site free of charge, and a restaurant stops by to contribute its food scraps without having to pay for compost pickup. 

Including the unregistered individuals who use the site (Bradlee calls them “compost enthusiasts”) and those who live in the same household as registered members, Earth Appliance serves around 350 people. Since compost “shrinks down,” Bradlee only needs about 10 bins to process everyone’s scraps; however, as his client-base grows, Bradlee has to add a bin or two every so often. He estimates that if 20 sites were set up around the city, the majority of Providence’s food scraps could be composted.

Bradlee plans to offer compost collection at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, and he’s happy to partner with anyone who wants to build a composting site in Providence. “Community compost depots are a viable way to solve the food waste problem. It’s a neighborhood problem with a neighborhood solution,” he says.