Do they shred this stuff or does it just rot down in place? My city has the same type of facility but they shred everything, and it actually heats up and steams for awhile. It doesn't kill all the weeds, because we use it for mulch and we get all kinds of stuff. But it's great free organic matter, and we've been using it for 18 years.

IÂm guessing that the city also dumps their collected leaves and lawn refuse there. I use that kind of stuff all the time. Look for leaf piles. If you pull the top layer off with shovel or rake, you may find partially or fully decomposed leaf material. This leaf mold is great for mulching all your gardens and flower beds. I have never had a problem with weed seeds, pesticides or poison ivy. Autumn leaves are usually pretty clean of those substances. If you are interested in making compost, this leaf mulch is an excellent base to which lawn clippings and other "greens" including kitchen waste can be mixed in to make the best little pile of compost you ever saw.
Bill Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: Benefits of using compost

I don't know if they shred, actually.
I will look for leaf piles -- would those count as brown? I do need more stuff to mix with kitchen scraps -- I've been burying them now since my little bin is full.
Thanks!

usually it is chipped/shredded and then hot composted and over here most turn it through the process (as the crow flies we are app" 3 kilometers from the tip and on the right beeze the stuff has a fair smell). i have found you can get weed seeds in it as there are no guarantees with composting that all seeds will be destroyed.

now i can't say what might happen from place to place? but over here commonly all and any wood product gets shredded, along with the green waste that is old furniture etc.,. and i have seen cca timber in the piles. they also add in what they call low grade industrial waste, they say they test for toxic levels but they are always below the level they or someone who supports them sets???

so i guess you do some research and figure what in your town or any other towns near by could end up in the compost. i use this stuff over here but only a bag here and there. what toxins maybe in it? i have no idea and i am surely not going to pay for expensive testing to fnd out, to go that way i would first stop using the stuff, is there any negative effect again you would never know as it is unlikely to be blatanty obvious.

if you mulch heavily that should take care of nearly all the weeds the rest you should pull as soon as they sprout, i can't see any real issues from that end.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I think I was wrong -- they do tend to the compost in the lot. I went over there today (only day of the week it's opened) and the leaves & clippings were in neat rows, and in one corner there was a mountain of unscreened compost and another smaller mountain of compost. And there was a screening machine (vibrascreen?) -- I guess they haven't screened the compost yet.

I kind of couldn't resist getting compost -- I bagged some and put in my trunk (man that stuff is heavy) and bagged some woodchips too for mulch).
I'm going to try using the compost on the new blueberry bed & new bed for roses. I figure it will be easy to spot weeds among shrubs (vs among veggies & perennials).
I love that it's free.

Good decision ajpa. I too use that kind of compost and woodchips. This stuff will work great for mulching your roses and blueberry bushes. Bill

Hard to beat that ajpa! I was just planting some irises yesterday in a bed where we've been mulching with shredded yard waste for 10 years - no other treatments - and it has turned the horrible clay to a nice black soil.

I use our city compost quite a lot, I find it to be well composted, and very very nice. I just got a truckload yesterday in fact. I suppose it must vary from town to town, but at our place they have HUGE piles that they turn via a big tractor, and the finished stuff is uniform and nice.