Who We Are

Compost Toronto is an emerging citywide network of neighbours, educators, gardeners, and land stewards committed to restoring living soils and urban biodiversity through community-based composting. Founded in 2022, our work integrates ecological science, grassroots action, and collaborative care to regenerate soil health across Toronto.

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Our Mission

We believe healthy soil is at the heart of healthy communities.
Through biological composting, education, and hands-on collaboration, we’re creating a more resilient Toronto—one compost pile at a time.

We envision a future with thriving soils, vibrant green spaces, and communities rooted in care and regeneration.

Inspired by the work of Dr. Elaine Ingham and the Soil Food Web School, we celebrate composting as a living process that reconnects us with nature, nourishes our food systems, and reduces our dependence on harmful chemicals.

Our mission is to learn, share, and build high-quality compost together, restoring the soil’s microbial life and honouring our role as caretakers of the land..

Land & Values Statement

Compost Toronto works on lands within the Greater Toronto Bioregion, which have long been cared for by Indigenous peoples, including the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Nations.

We recognize that soil, land, and water are living relatives—not resources—and that Indigenous knowledge systems have long understood the relationships between healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people, and the climate. Our work is guided by respect for these teachings and by a responsibility to care for the land through regeneration, reciprocity, and community stewardship.

Our Projects

Hands-on composting and soil health initiatives.

Community Compost

Neighborhood hubs where food scraps become soil.

Soil Education

Workshops teaching soil care and biodiversity.

Biodiversity Boost

Creating habitats that nurture urban wildlife.

Volunteer Days

Join us to build living soil together.

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Events

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Roots

Nurturing soil and community through urban composting.

Joe Durand - Chair and Chief Compost Build Co-ordinator

Joe is one of the founding members of Compost Toronto, which started as “a bunch of Soil Food Web nerds looking to connect and share information". Often serving as the Compost Toronto spokesperson by gathering people together for workshops and presentations, Joe gathers us together to learn, build new skills and share a passion for soil ecology conveying the founding message - soil life matters.

Joe leads the Steering Committee, facilitates meetings, oversees strategic decisions, and provides hands-on leadership in compost systems and community programming. As the Compost Specialist, he oversees compost pile construction, monitoring, and community garden builds. Provides leadership in hands-on composting practices.

STEERING COMMITTEE 2026

Colleen Dempster, Co-Chair and Scientific Director

Also a founding member, Colleen has joined virtually and in-person with the Compost Toronto group since the beginning. She brings ecological knowledge and scientific rigor to the group through her background in environmental science and advanced training with the Soil Food Web School.

Her roles as Co-Chair and Science Director means she assists the Chair organizing meetings and keeping documents up-to-date. Colleen oversees soil biology, microscopy, curriculum development, research projects, and the scientific quality of all Compost Toronto programming.

Sunday Harrison - Finance, Admin and Membership Team #1

Sunday, while not a Soil Food Web student, has followed Dr. Elaine Ingham’s composting advice from back in the day when it was on cassette tapes, promoted at that time by Mike Nevin, the best-loved compost leader in the city. As founder and executive director of Green Thumbs Growing Kids, Sunday supported the formation of Compost Toronto and spearheaded the first public event, a showing of the film Common Ground in January 2025. Sunday helps to strengthen governance, support educational partnerships, and brings nonprofit leadership experience from her work with school garden programs that include compost education.

Tara Ramkhelawan - Finance, Admin and Membership Team

Tara has a passion for working and volunteering in urban agriculture projects, markets, community engagement, and health promotion. Currently working at Flemo Farm growing veggies, composting, running the Flemo Farmers’ Market and other events. Tara is currently taking Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School Consultant Training Program, and is keen on learning and educating on the connections between healthy soils, healthy plants, and healthy people.

Tara works on the development of the membership at Compost Toronto.

Lucia Salas
Outreach and Marketing Team

Nature nerd, urban gardener, Lucía helps with online marketing for different initiatives related to spirituality, farming, education and sustainability.

Illeana Murray - Outreach and Marketing Team

Ileana Murray is an enthusiastic gardener, dedicated community member, and environmental activist with a passion for promoting healthy eating and sustainable living. Her journey in gardening began at The Stop Community Food Centre, where she volunteered and worked in various roles, including serving as an urban agriculture worker in the community gardens and greenhouse.

Through her immersion in the urban farming scene, Ileana discovered Compost Toronto in 2023 and joined the team, seeing it as a natural next step in her gardening journey.

Ileana supports Compost Toronto with messaging and outreach materials.

Rodrigo Rojas Bernasconi Outreach and Marketing Team

Rodrigo is an Environmental Engineer passionate about soil health, composting, and community-based sustainability. At Compost Toronto, he supports outreach, communications, and digital strategy, helping share knowledge about biological composting in an accessible and engaging way.

With experience in community initiatives and environmental projects in Toronto, Rodrigo focuses on connecting people with practical solutions that restore living soils and strengthen resilient communities.

Monica - Outreach and Marketing Team

My mother sparked my passion for composting at an early age. My love of gardening ingrained in me the value of reducing waste while growing healthy, tastier, food. This awareness to reduce waste prompted me to take courses in composting for which I hold a life long commitment. I set up composting at my University job, where a lot of coffee grind waste incurred and in the communities I have lived, from Switzerland to Toronto. My community composting system in Switzerland was continued after I moved away. My love and respect for nature has also brought me to broaden my knowledge of edible and medicinal wild plants. Wild greens salad anyone?

Witold Krawiec – Compost & Microscope Technician

Witold is a certified Soil Food Web laboratory technician and has been with Compost Toronto since 2023. He is currently advancing his knowledge of Dark Field, Manual Light, and Epifluorescence microscopy methods that enable enhanced visualization of soil organic matter and microorganisms.

Witold completed a summer internship with Glen Road Organics, assisting in the production of large-scale, biologically complete compost. At Compost Toronto, he supports microscopy, soil biology evaluation, record-keeping, and the application of scientific standards to Toronto-based projects.

OPERATIONS TEAM

Ian Catterall - Compost Tea & Extract Technician

Ian has been a part of Compost Toronto since it’s early beginnings. He is also a student of the Soil Food Web School. As an arborist and running his own compost tea/extract company, Ian builds compost, makes liquid biological amendments, and checks them using the microscope.

For Compost Toronto, he specializes in brewing aerobic compost teas and extracts, monitoring microbial activity, ensuring biological quality, supporting field demonstrations, and maintaining brewing equipment

Marc LePointe - Assistant Technician

Marc is an experimental extraordinaire, growing and testing alternative composting techniques in his secret hideaway lab in Toronto.

He has worked in cannabis production and compost tea/extract production for multiple years now, and continues to inspire with his passion and thought-provoking questions.

Marc is an active student with the Compost Academy. With Compost Toronto, he dips his toes into all aspects of composting, brewing, and growing, and remains on stand-by when he can with pitchfork at the ready.

Pei Hanzlik - Vermicompost Specialist

Pei is also a founding member from our inception offering an in depth Permaculture perspective to all of our projects. She got her 1st Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2012 from Garden Jane/ (& Jillian Hovey) in Toronto. During Covid she studied with Starhawk and her amazing on- line community (EarthActivistTraining.org) covering everything that is offered from Urban Ag, composting, soil health to Social Permaculture modalities.

A founding member of Hope Garden in Parkdale (2013). Started the community Garden for St Jamestown Community Coop (2017). Assisted and studied with urban Ag gardener & composter extraordinaire Johanne Doaust (2018-2022). Conducts vermicomposting workshops in community Gardens and privately. Also as a largely self-trained chef her focus is on food security, cooking with locally sourced ingredients whenever possible and holds classes teaching others create the healthiest & most delicious meals within their budget. @pei_czech / pei.czech@gmail.com