Question
Our city offers free compost from the lawn and garden waste they compost.  The yard waste is collected in in bio-solo biodegrable bags.
Is this compost safe to use in vegetables gardens?  I'm worried since residents may have used chemicals like ortho weed be gone on their grass beore sending it to compost?

Answer
You never know what people (or the city) does to their yards.  I would not trust it. The organic certification folks say that after three years the chemicals are gone.  I would get lots of it and make 4x4x4 round compost bins and let it set for three years, then sift it and put into the garden.  See our website how to make easy compost and bins:  http://www.avant-gardening.com

I would also add a lot of earthworms to those compost bins after a year or so when it has cooled down, since the earthworms will purify it by running it through their bodies, and add fertilizer to your compost piles in the process.  

After three years I would sift it, and then put it in my garden, and mulch with it as well, turning it into the soil in the spring and fall.

In the meanwhile, I would buy organic compost until you can get your own bins going from your own garden waste.