I would be inclined to use it; especially if you need compost in bulk and in a hurry. However, there is some element of risk since even your county does not know exactly what is in their compost. Your biggest risk with yard waste compost is residual herbicides and persistent weeds. The bits of plastic, etc. are annoying but are the "price" of free compost. It would be nice to know if your county hot composts, cold composts or if their stuff is more akin to leaf mold (which is also good stuff). If you are worried enough you can skip it or you can go look at it and also test it out on a small plot. The ultimate safetfy precaution is to have it tested by a lab but if you are worried enough to have it tested by a lab it probably does not make sense to bother with the stuff in the first place. You can also let the compost cure for a long time before using it for your garden if you have a place to store it. That would mitigate some of the potential problems. Sludge compost is more complicated and I know even less about that. Some people worry about heavy metals and other undesirable things in compost made from sludge. If the sludge is treated correctly there should be very little risk of disease pathogens but removal of heavy metals is more difficult. I am attaching a link for a magazine whose archives you can search for free for more info on various waste management issues. Here is a link that might be useful: Municipal Solid Waste magazine

the landfill mulch is highly variable and sometimes you do get oddball things in it (nails, small plastic toys, shreds of bags) but for the most part it's fine. It varies depending on what's going into it- time of year, any natural disasters, etc. Best batch i've gotten was after Fran- very woody but made great mulch, and very little 'extras'. It's a good deal for what you get- and you can watch b/c sometimes they run buy one get one free deals- but you have to make 2 trips in one day for it to hold true. If you're in fuquay and are willing to drive a little bit, there's a place in garner you an load up for free. It's lakeside daylily farm on 50, right up n garner. He lets any of the tree contractors around dump their shredded/chipped stuff instead of paying to dump it at the waste management and has an enormous pile. If the gate's open, it's free for the taking and the gate's usually open. You can back right up to the pile in numerous spots and it only takes 15-20 mins for 2 to load a pickup truck full. Again, variable textures depending on what the material is and how long it's been there, but look around and you'll find something you can use. There's a smaller pile of well rotted stuff but you have to load that onto tarps or in cans b/c you can't get the trucks close enough. Hope that helps!

Hi Smilla, I also live in Saugerties and have gardened here for 35 years. The only place I know for free compost is the New Paltz landfill, off route 32 north of NP. They have a huge pile of composted leaves, older on one side that the other. You have to load it yourself and bring a pickup or containers like those white plastic buckets. I used to be able to get mushroom dirt and manure free but nowadays, the mushrooms are grown in Pennsylvania and the horse farms sell the manure. If you have space, you can compost your own leaves and grass clippings (my neighbors give me their clippings) or just use the grass clippings as mulch. If you learn of any other places, I'd love to hear about them. Happy Gardening.

Growth inhibitors are only an issue with germinating seeds and seedlings. I doubt very much that they will have any effect on fully established trees and shrubs. The only thing that you may have to be careful of is any branch fragments taking root. This is a problem of Willow derived mulch if it is in a wet area. Not sure about Camphor Laurel but it is an issue to consider.