My city and county does have a composting center. You can not haul leaves and grass clippings to the dump. They also have a limb burn pile. Every year I haul truckload after truckload of the compost back home and spread it on the garden. It is free and if you go on the right day, they will load you with a skid loader. Our local grocery store gives our tiny zoo produce that is past its prime. Is it bad, no, just no one will buy it. It save them lots of money, the zoo that is. Why is it the policy of all companies to not give away bad produce and scraps, Liability Insurance! If they gave it away, then they could get sued if the person accepting it, ate it and got sick. Gotta love lawyers!

It sounds like the equivalent of shreded leaves, in other words, added organic matter, not "true" compost. My inclination is to add it. Most urban soils are low in organic matter. So long as you don't smoother your grass, it should only help. Worst case, which is not likely in my opinion, you might tie up some nitrogen in the soil as it in essence breaks down in the soil, requiring a bit more nitrogen fertilizer than normal. But, I really doubt it. It also sounds like an ecological solution to not adding these end products to a landfill. Good for soil, good for the environment. So, imho, good stuff, go for it.

Nora ... I echo the admiration of other comments for you efforts ... I'm of the generation when our school had a Victory Garden and have very happy memories, not to mention fortifying familial gardening pattern for a lifetime of enjoyment. May I add to the list of educational benefits to the children, the cross-generational habit/culture .... also the example of starting small [workable money/ time/ experience/ manpower-wise] is HUGE! The children will really feel the importance of their contribution if the scale is small. Visual aides are also valuable ... both for children and adults/community to see the scope of the plan. Re: soil tainted with toxic materials ... raised beds are great, but the pathways will kick up dust and airborne problems unless well-mulched. Because the oldsters and youngsters may be already at risk to airborne toxics. Again, a reason to start small, so as to throughly cover all the bases. Even if the soil test comes back OK/CLEAR, the fact that construction waste was dumped on the site is a major argument in favor of raised beds. Would you be able to use those rocks in the picture for some of the raised beds? They would be so pretty, not to mention FREE!

If vinyl was so dangerous then tell me why the FDA thinks its safe to use as IV bags ? IV bags in hospitals are made of Vinyl, same thing for bags used for blood transfusions. The liners that are used in land fills are also made of vinyl. What do you think baby pacifiers are made of? Vinyl.. High end vinyl also doesnt contain lead or any dangerous metals that cause toxic off gassing. The products used to maintain wood windows are much more toxic and dangerous to your health, not to mention they are more harmful to the environment than high end vinyl. The propaganda regarding the dangers of vinyl are NOT only terribly outdated but completely false. All those studies are from the 1980's and early 90's. In fact your studies are from 1989 and 1994 and they were conducted by Green Peace ? A Green Peace study has about as much credibility as a study from the university of Helsinki. Notice all the new studies say the complete opposite? Of course guys like you would never post that. The higher end vinyl windows dont contain any plasticizers either. This is the same type of vinyl that is now used in europe.