Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry A truck from John Anderson Construction delivers a load of compost Monday from the city’s compost site to Betts Park. The compost is free to city residents for personal use.

There is a new city program in place at Betts Park.

Between the tennis courts and the softball fields there is a mound –perhaps 400 cubic yards — of rich, black compost.

“We’re going to give it away,” Department of Public Works Superintendent Joe Reinke said. “We’ve been making compost with the city’s leaves that we collect in the fall, the wood chips from the brush that we collect in the spring, and all the yard waste, including lawn clippings, that we collect at the Harmar Street drop-off site.”

The compost goes through about a year of cooking.

“We mix all those ingredients together to form organic windrows,” Reinke said. “Monthly, we turn those piles with the front-end loader. That’s adding oxygen and reducing moisture.”

Oxygen and the proper amount of moisture are two of the key ingredients in compost, he said. The others are carbon and nitrogen.

The city received a grant in 2018 that allowed it to purchase a Vermeer Trommel screen which sifts the compost material, allowing small particles to pass through while keeping larger ones for next year.

“You can get really scientific with this process,” Reinke said. “We are learning a lot our first year.”

“This is garden compost,” he said. “It’s best purpose is going to be in your garden.”

The compost is available to city residents.

“The same rules apply at the drop-off site (on Harmar):

City residents only;

No contractors; and

No heavy equipment for loading.”

Those rules will apply indefinitely. During the COVID-19 pandemic, other restrictions apply, too.

“Due to the circumstances, we would only like to have one vehicle loading at a time,” Reinke said. “Please keep your distance. Please stick to the gravel road.”

Those who take compost do so at their own risk, he said.

“We have been following the DEP guidelines at our compost site, when we’re making this material,” Reinke said. “We wanted to give the residents back a quality recycled product from their lawn debris.”