Yes it is a concern. Could be baby diapers oil filters and whatever anyone puts in there.

Our local yard waste drop off has free compost and mulch as well. I have never used it, because you never know what is in it. My concern is mainly because of pesticides and herbicides that we're used on yards before someone took the waste there.
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden

Scores of discussions on this topic in the Soil & Compost Forum. You may want to read some threads that explore the tiny risk of diapers in compost.

Dan

Ask what's in it. If they take grass clippings, I'd be concerned about chemicals (fertilizers, pre-emergents, herbicides, pesticides), weeds, dog poop, etc. If it's just shredded leaves I'd take it - I don't know too many people who spray their oaks and maples. If you're concerned about pesticides in leaf mold, I'd ask the city DPW if they spray the trees. But we take decomposed wood chips from the utility companies and highway dept all the time (they dump them on my uncle's property and the whole family takes them for their gardens).

I agree with Dan that this is a question for the Soil & Compost forum here. You'll find many discussions about it there.

That said, I wouldn't use it. Diapers don't worry me but herbicides surely do and the Tomato Forum here has had several posted problems this year about damage from herbicide contaminated compost.

"City compost" varies from city to city all depending on what they accept for composting. So only residents with direct access to that city's pile can judge it. Smell it, sift it through your gingers, squeeze, it examine the color and texture, etc.

there's a huge pile of soil, assumingly from compost of year's past.

Just keep in mind that it is compost, it isn't "soil".

Dave

"City compost" varies from city to city all depending on what they accept for composting. So only residents with direct access to that city's pile can judge it. Smell it, sift it through your gingers, squeeze, it examine the color and texture, etc.

Exactly. And heat, time, UV in a good sound process following best practices should break down petrochemicals.

Dan

It works, but the stuff I've used is pretty low in nutrients. I've always had to apply a lot of fertilizer to get stuff to grow.

Our city offers free composted mulch made from tree and shrub debris, which is put through a grinder twice to provide a finer size mulch. They even load it for us at no charge. But they also clearly state the mulch should not be used in vegetable gardens or containers used to grow food items. They say they have no control over chemical treatments that may have been applied to yard debris, or diseases that may have affected it.

I know they try to keep debris other than plant material out of the grinder and composted mulch. We got a couple loads for use around our trees and flower beds a couple of years ago. For months, we were picking shredded pieces of plastic garbage bags, and other plastic items from the mulch as it worked its way up, or the squirrels dug it up. It was aggravating to have to inspect the mulch for trash, but the mulch was OK otherwise. Even without the warning from the Recycling Center, I wouldn't want it anywhere near our vegetable garden.

I picked some up one year, and it was loaded with bottle parts, and other trash ( nothing big ) but not worth using in my opinion, it might be easier to find either horse stalls ot cow farm and see if they have any old composted manure.

I will compost leave that are bagged & left on the crub this Spring & Fall, as well as use it for mulch.
Forgive my bluntness, but you are being nice-nasty about compost?!?!!!
Have you seen what hogs,chickens & cows eat & most of you eat them & compost with their manure.
You drive a car with a gasoline engine, you are doing far worst then a little junk in some compost.
That the way I see anyways.

It is said that many of the petrochemicals do break down when composted, but I know there is one that apparently doesn't, and naturally, that was the one my purchased compost was contaminated with, Clopyralid. I used some of it for potting some plants, most died. The mound that sat in the yard for three years didn't grow anything for over two years, no even weeds. Not an earthworm or sowbug or earwig to be seen. When something did sprout, it was poison hemlock, oh joy!

Wayland, there's nothing indicating what state you live in, so call your local Cooperative Extension Agent/Master Gardener (see below), and ask if Clopyralid is used in your state or local area. Even if you don't buy compost, you will know if it is safe to collect grass clippings from your neighborhood.

But one thing I do remember: peas won't grow in Clopyralid-contaminated soil or compost (it's like the canary in the coal mine). Ask if you could have a small amount of the compost to test (like a gallon) and soak some pea seeds overnight, then plant them in the compost in a pot. If they grow, there's no active Clopyralid in it.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Find your local Coop Ext. Service office

Mine from the dump costs something like $18 a truckload, but they say it is organic.
I come from a very Ag and organic county in CA, so I'm sure it is tested on a regular basis. I know many who have totally organic gardens who use this.
Sonoma County is a total "organic" area and I'm sure that something labeled organic in this area IS!
I would ask where they get their materials or if they screen for herbicides etc. Nancy

I compost selectively...so anything that has seed heads or is invasive I put in the city yard waste bin.

You can be sure of one thing, the compost will have lots of weed seeds in it.

Diseased plant material is another huge concern. There's no guarantee that the compost heated up enough to kill pathogens.

The compost from my local city is made from yard waste and drywall. I suppose there might be small amounts of pesticide residue in it, but I know many folks who use it in their raised beds and vegetable gardens. It is low in available nitrogen and is advertised as a soil supplement, but I have in fact made beds almost entirely from it. One of my wife's flower beds has about a foot of pure compost, to which I only added some high nitrogen fertilizer. That bed is so lush that it becomes a flower jungle every year because DW loves to plant thickly.

The last batch I got, which is supposed to cost $12/yard, was a full pickup load that weighed over a ton. That was somewhere between 3 and 4 yards...still was charged $12. It had somewhat larger chunks of drywall in it, but that is just CaSO4, and is a good additive to loosen clay soils, so I have no real problem with it. The extras I've had in piles always grow weeds eventually, but the stuff seems to have very few viable weed seeds in it as it comes from the recycling center. I have used it as mulch to keep the weeds down. I can't say I've ever had any negative effect from it in my garden.

As your location varies, so may your results.

Chuck

Visit the facility in the late fall and see what next year's or later compost is made from.

Where I have gotten some, the rows of leaves are piled up. Sure there are some bits of plastic, but the rocks are the main objection.

Leaves are likely to be fairly benign concerning chemicals. Now when all kinds of things are used, it becomes less simple.

Used urban city compost to plant tomatoes in two large pots. Instant blossom end rot due to insufficient minerals.