On 9/30/2015 12:35 PM, Boron Elgar wrote:

I have always hesitated to use community composts, as many
homeowners allow their grass clippings to be collected and the
insecticide, weed killers and broad herbicides that they use wind
up in there.

Most residential pesticides have fairly short half-lives, generally in
terms of days or weeks, so the typical insecticides and herbicides
applied by homeowners will break down during the composting process.
The more common problem with community compost is the amount of trash
within it, as so many people neglect to remove wire twist ties, plant
markers, etc. when cleaning out their gardens. Communities where
property owners rake their leaves into the gutters for city vacuum
machines to collect and dump also end up with larger bits of trash
sucked up with the leaves, such as can and bottles.

On the bright side, it is still better than no compost at all.