Hammond Farms

Did you know that yard waste, like leaves, trimmings, and branches, used to constitute 24% of Michigan’s waste stream? When these materials break down, they release methane into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. In 1995, the Michigan legislature took action against this issue, banning landfills from accepting yard waste. Luckily, yard trimmings can be easily composted alongside other organics into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. 

Hammond Farms has incorporated composting into their core operations since the mid-2000s, in part to meet the demand for sustainable organics management resulting from the landfill ban. Today, businesses, communities, and residents can drop off yard trimmings at any of Hammond Farms’ five locations in Greater Lansing. While Hammond Farms’ primary operation involves selling landscape products like soils, mulches, pavers, and other supplies, there’s a reason they’ve kept composting all these years later. Not only are they passionate about diverting organic waste from landfills, but the sale of compost generates profit and propels their family business forward. 

Materials that would once have been wasted are now incorporated into one of their multiple rows of decomposing material. These rows, which contain brush, leaves, plants, food scraps, and other organics, are regularly fed into a machine to be vigorously rotated. By rotating the pile, oxygen and porosity are added to the material to speed up the composting process. While compostable packaging, cups, plates, and cutlery likely won’t ever break down in a backyard compost pile, the pile size, heat, and turning methods used at Hammond Farms allows these products to be composted in as little as one week! 

However, one of their greatest obstacles is compost contamination. Inside brush bags, staff have found everything from pet waste to sledgehammers and even car batteries. Maintaining screener machines used to remove foreign objects is a significant cost to their composting operation. The staff of Hammond Farms emphasizes that we all play a role in the composting ecosystem. Whatever we put in our brush bags may impact finished compost, which could be incorporated into soil within our communities. 

Interested in purchasing Michigan-made compost? Visit any of Hammond Farms' locations in the Greater Lansing area to purchase compost today.