- Space at the Central Landfill in Johnston is fast diminishing. The more waste that can be diverted, the slower we use up the remaining space.
- Your food waste can be recycled back into healthy soils — the same soils that will be the foundation for next year's Rhode Island-grown vegetables.
- The community composting program at the Wintertime Market uses Mobile Organic Resource Procurement Hub (MORPH) composters, which are manufactured by EcoTope, a South Providence company. Read about this summer's test run of the MORPH composter at Chez Pascal.
Farmers Market
- Fresh Bucks for credit cards and EBT
- Community Composting drop-off at the market
- Healthy Foods, Healthy Families on-site education
- Healthy Servings for Seniors workshops at senior centers
- Fruit & Vegetable Prescription Program for at-risk families
- Market Shares CSA-like program
- Recipes for seasonal veggies and fruit
- All Markets in RI
- Our Markets info, get a table, volunteer
- RI Market Vendor Guide
- RI Market Manager Guide
- Weekly Preview E-mail what's fresh
Thanks to partnership with local farms and community organizations, like ecoRI, you can now bring your household food scraps to some of the farmers markets in RI:
- Wednesdays 3pm to 6pm – Providence's Lippitt Park
middle of the market along the Blackstone Blvd side - Wednesdays 2pm to 6pm – Newport
between First Beach and Bellevue Ave on Memorial Drive - Thursdays 4pm to 7pm – Providence's Armory
at the Cranston St side of the market - Saturdays 9am to 1pm – Providence's Lippitt Park
middle of the market along the Blackstone Blvd side - Saturdays 9am to 1pm – Middletown
at Newport Vineyards - Saturdays 9am to 12pm – Barrington
Congregational Church on Rt. 114 - Wednesdays 4pm to 7pm – Wintertime Market
Hope Artiste Village - 1005 Main Street in Pawtucket - Saturdays 10am to 1pm – Wintertime Market
Hope Artiste Village - 1005 Main Street in Pawtucket
These efforts help divert thousands of pounds of food waste from the RI Landfill so it could be turned back into nutrient-dense soil for growing more food. The program was first piloted at the 2010-11 Wintertime Farmers Market on Saturdays and Wednesdays in Pawtucket.
Start Turning Your Food Scraps into Healthy Soils!
What You Can Compost: Vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and filters, eggshells, cardboard and uncoated paper.
Please don't put in cooked or processed foods, oils, grains, animal products or yard waste. For detailed information, check out ecoRI's website. While it is possible to compost these foods under the right conditions, they will not effectively break down in our bin.
Where & When to Drop Off: You'll find bins that you can toss your compost into at the Armory, Barrington, Hope St, Middletown and Newport markets.
How the Composting Program Works: Each market has connected with local farmers to bring the food scraps back to their farms for composting into rich soil. There is no charge for the service.
Logistics at Your Home
- Finding the Perfect Container: Many families keep food scraps in reused yogurt containers, larger bulk plastic tubs, or a metal containers. You'll want to make sure you keep the lid so you avoid fruit flies and odor. You may also want to line the bottom of the container with a compostable waste bag, plastic bag or pieces of a brown paper bag to reduce how dirty the container gets. Grocery stores and cafes often have empty tubs they receive with pickles, bulk yogurt and bulk cheese that they're happy to give away. Farm Fresh is contacting our Market Mobile customers who frequently buy Narragansett Creamery cheese in the bulk containers to see if we can get their empties back to give out at the Wintertime Market.
- Where to Put the Container: Some families store the container by the sink or trashcan so it's easy to get in the habit of throwing food scraps in the compost. Others keep their compost in the freezer to avoid any smell when opening the container.
- Transport to Market: You'll want an easy way to bring the food scraps to market. One option is to line your container with a compostable waste bag, available at many grocery stores, that you can just throw into the drop-off bin. If your food scraps aren't too wet, a paper bag would also work. Many people alternatively use plastic bags and throw the dirty bag into the trash after dumping the food scraps in the compost bin at the market.
Questions? Contact Kevin of ecoRI at kevin@ecori.org.