Intro to Composting – Rosendale Library

We’re Celebrating Compost Awareness Week (ICAW)!

About ICAW: International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is the compost industry’s largest, most far-reaching education and awareness campaign, celebrated worldwide each year during the first full week of May. The mission is simple but powerful: bring people together to share the benefits of composting organics and using compost to build healthier soil. From the fall poster contest to thousands of events and activities during the week, ICAW inspires action at every level. Communities, schools, governments, and businesses host celebrations highlighting all types of composting, from small backyard efforts to large-scale commercial operations, showing that everyone can play a part in creating a more sustainable future.  In 2024, Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger declared the first week of May to be Compost Awareness Week! Visit NYSAR3’s New York Compost Awareness Week page for more information about local programs, events, and initiatives.

2026 Theme: Compost! Feed the Soil that Feeds Us! Each year, a new theme for ICAW is chosen. The 2026 theme is Feed the Soil that Feeds Us! Soil is the foundation of life. It grows the food we eat, filters the water we drink, and sustains the biodiversity that keeps our ecosystems in balance. Yet soil is also one of our most threatened resources, with erosion, top soil & nutrient depletion, and contamination endangering its health worldwide. This theme highlights the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) as the anchor. This year’s theme ties directly to UN SDG 15: Life on Land, reinforcing that protecting and restoring soil is a global priority and one of the most impactful ways we can care for the planet. When we apply high quality compost, we are investing in the health of our soil, ensuring it continues to provide the food, clean water, and resilience that all life depends on.

This year’s winner of the ICAW 2026 Poster Contest is Endurance Oye of Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria. “Inspired by what he calls the “quiet intelligence of nature,” Endurance’s work reflects how the earth transforms what we discard into nourishment and new life. Growing up close to the land, he observed firsthand how fallen leaves, food scraps, and organic matter return to the soil and fuel renewal. His winning poster visually tells this story through layered soil scenes that reveal decomposition, microbial activity, nutrient formation, and plants reaching toward the light—illustrating composting as a living, breathing cycle of resilience and transformation.”