Welcome to the UConn Master Composter Program!

Approximately 25% of a typical household’s waste can be recycled right in our own backyards. This significantly reduces the amount of solid waste being incinerated or landfilled. The UConn Home & Garden Education Center developed the UConn Master Composter Program in 2009 and has held it annually to educate and train state residents about backyard and small-scale composting and to assist participants in passing this knowledge on to others.

Those enrolled in the Master Composter program will:

  • Learn why it is important to reduce the amount of waste send to incinerators or landfills
  • Understand how individuals and communities benefit from making compost
  • Discover the art and science of composting
  • Find out about the many ways that compost improves soils
  • Become familiar with techniques for creating/maintaining backyard composting systems
  • Learn how to use compost in an environmentally sound manner
  • Have an opportunity to learn about vermicomposting and make their own worm bin
  • Join occasional field trips to municipal, small-scale and/or on-farm composting sites
  • Improve teaching and leadership skills through community outreach projects

Why Become a Master Composter?

By encouraging Connecticut residents to recycle organic waste materials that would otherwise be incinerated or landfilled, UConn Master Composters promote sustainable living and resource conservation at individual and community levels. Through this program, you too can make a difference by educating the public about making and using compost.