Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on LawnStarter.
Composting isn’t small potatoes anymore. Nearly half of U.S. residents say they let Mother Nature recycle kitchen and yard waste for use in their own or their friends’ gardens.
Composting food scraps and grass clippings in your yard, community garden, or even in your kitchen can make a big dent in our landfills — accounting for over a third of our national waste.
With cities like New York rolling out mandatory composting programs, LawnStarter surveyed U.S. residents on their composting habits and opinions. See more about the methodology at the end.
Explore the following results, including demographic insights such as age, education and income.
1. Do you currently compost food scraps or yard waste?
- Yes: 47.18%
- No: 52.82%
The following data is from the 1,008 respondents who answered yes.
2. Where do you compost?
- At home (backyard or indoor composting): 79.46%
- At a community garden or composting site: 14.58%
- Through a workplace composting program: 4.46%
- Other: 1.49%
Demographic insights:
- Age: Respondents ages 18 to 24 are more likely to compost at a community garden or composting site (24.48%) or through a workplace composting program (6.29%) than the other age groups.
- Race + Ethnicity: Multiracial (28.57%) and Hispanic or Latino (25.78%) respondents are more likely to compost at a community garden or composting site, compared to 9.64% of non-Hispanic white respondents.
- Income: At over 18.23%, respondents making less than $50,000 are more likely to utilize a community garden or composting site.
3. How frequently do you compost?
- Daily: 41.07%
- Weekly: 47.62%
- Monthly: 7.04%
- Occasionally: 4.27%
Demographic insights:
- Age: At 29.37%, respondents ages 18 to 24 are least likely to compost daily. However, they are the most likely to compost weekly (55.94%).
- Race + Ethnicity: Native American (54.55%) or Black (41.5%) respondents are most likely to compost every day. At 21.43%, multiracial respondents are more likely to compost monthly.
- Income: More than 46.27% of respondents make over $100,000 compost on a daily basis.
4. What prevents you from composting more often?
(Respondents chose all that apply.)
- Lack of space: 44.15%
- Time constraints: 44.15%
- Odor concerns: 34.62%
- Lack of knowledge: 22.72%
- HOA prohibits composting: 7.94%
- Other: 5.36%
Demographic insights:
- Age: Respondents with a doctorate, advanced, or professional degree indicate that time constraints (58.62%), odor concerns (50%), and lack of knowledge (29.31%) are the biggest roadblocks keeping them from composting more often.
- Income: Odor concerns are keeping 50.75% of respondents making over $150,000 from composting more often. Those making over six figures are most likely to live in an area where their HOA prohibits composting — 12.39% for those making $100,000 to $149,999 and 10.45% for households with incomes above $150,000.
5. What items do you compost?
- Food scraps: 67.76%
- Yard waste: 25.5%
- Paper products: 5.85%
- Other: 0.89%
Demographic insights:
- Age: Respondents ages 18 to 24 had a higher preference (34.27%) for composting yard waste than the other age groups.
- Race + Ethnicity: Native American (36.26%) and multiracial (35.71%) respondents are most likely to compost yard waste. Asian respondents are the least likely to compost just yard waste (15.79%).
- Income: At 31.34%, folks making over $150,000 are more likely to compost just yard waste.
6. How do you use your compost when it is ready?
- In my garden or potted plants: 51.88%
- On my lawn or around trees: 23.12%
- Dispose of it: 12%
- Give it away: 10.12%
- Haven’t started using it yet: 2.28%
- Other: 0.6%
Demographic insights — age:
- Respondents ages 18 to 24 are over two times more likely to give away their compost (16.78%) compared to those ages 45 and up (less than 7.7%).
- At 63.38%, respondents over 65 are most inclined to use compost in their garden and for potted plants.
- Respondents ages 45 to 54 have the biggest preference for using compost on their lawns or around trees (29.07%).
Behind the Survey
LawnStarter collected survey responses from a random sample of 2,165 U.S. residents aged 18 or older via Alchemer and Cint on October 22, 2024.
The first question includes responses from all 2,165, while the remaining 5 questions reflect data from 1,008 respondents who answered “yes” on the first question.
Each response was anonymized using a unique user ID generated and assigned by Cint.
Add a Comment