Pineapple shape made from colorful fruit stickers including Chiquita, Cutie, and organic labels.

Stickers Are Cute,
But Not On Your Fruit

Download Fruit Sticker Game Sheets

The Problem with Fruit Stickers in Compost

Tiny fruit stickers create big problems for composting. They do not break down in the compost pile and due to their small size are not filtered out in the screening process. We painstakingly hand pick produce stickers out of the finished compost, but due to their size and prevalence on produce it's impossible to get them all.

Help us prevent this contaminant from getting in your compost in the first place.

Hand holding small pieces of soil-covered metallic or foil debris with a pile of dark soil in the background.

Sticker for a Sticker Challange

Our kid and adult friendly game to help clean our compost stream. Help us keep fruit stickers out of the compost and create cleaner, more sustainable waste management.

Three Black Earth Compost flyers on a wooden table featuring simple black line drawings of a compost bin, a plant with roots and a lobster claw, and a farming tractor with seedlings, each with the text 'BLACK EARTH COMPOST' and a note about covering in fruit stickers to keep out dirt.

1. Download & Print a Sticker Sheet

Or make your own

Child placing fruit stickers on a black compost poster shaped like a cat, with additional small toy vegetables attached at the top.

2. Fill with PLU Stickers

Create art from trash

Person in a maroon Eagles sweatshirt holds a paper with various fruit stickers arranged in a figure, promoting Black Earth Compost with a thumbs up gesture.

3. Share on FB or IG & Receive a BEC Holographic Sticker

Make sure to TAG US @blackearthcompost and we will mail you a sticker.

Three Sheets to Choose From

By participating in our Fruit Sticker Challenge, you help keep our compost free from plastic contamination. Let's work together to create a cleaner, greener future!

Line drawing of a plant with roots and two large lobsters, with text advising to cover in fruit stickers to keep dirt off, titled Black Earth Compost.Black Earth Compost logo with a tractor silhouette, seedlings, and text reading 'cover in fruit stickers to keep 'em out of your dirt'.Line drawing of a compost bin with a lid and wheels labeled 'Black Earth Compost' and a circle note saying 'cover in fruit stickers to keep 'em out of your dirt'.
Download Fruit Sticker Game Sheets

Customer Creations

Make sure to tag and mention us on Facebook or Instagram @blackearthcompost or on X @blackearthma to get a holographic BEC sticker!

Artwork of a green tractor pulling a blue and yellow trailer with a sun made of fruit stickers above, the text BLACK EARTH COMPOST below.
Sheet titled 'BLACK EARTH COMPOST' covered with various overlapping fruit stickers to illustrate composting with fruit covers.
Paper with a trash bin drawing covered in fruit stickers illustrating that produce stickers are not compostable, posted by mealprepmegan.
Artwork of hands made entirely from various fruit stickers on a white background with text 'cover in fruit stickers to keep 'em out of your dirt' and 'BLACK EARTH COMPOST' below.
More Ways to Help

Create Exceptional Art

Skip one of our drawings and create your own art from produce stickers. Hang a piece of paper near your compost bin and arrange stickers in your own creative way.

Find inspiration from other fruit sticker artists, like Barry "Wildman" Snyder who has created beautiful art from produce stickers.

Colorful mosaic-style still life of a table with fruit bowl, wine bottle, glass, and piggy bank against a blue and red checkered background.

Join the Fight Against Fruit Stickers

Produce stickers could become the next plastic straw as we move towards the elimination of single use plastics. Alternative solutions to plastic PLU stickers exist, such as laser printing SKU codes on produce or using certified compostable stickers, however composters like you and us need to demand the use of a solution that considers the end of use life of the product.

Image: A USDA research facility is creating a bio based glue (a mix of natural gums such as xantham) that will be a compostable alternative to the traditional PVA (non compostable) glues.

Person holding a sheet of translucent, possibly adhesive material with a machine and people standing in the background in an industrial or workshop setting.