Durham’s Ambitious Food Scraps Collection Pilot

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Good morning, readers.

In 2016, the City of Durham’s Solid Waste Management Department hired a consultant to gather and analyze the city’s residents’ household waste. 

After sorting waste into categories, the consultant found that food scraps made up 18 percent of what was in the waste stream, the largest component of waste stream contents. So the city decided to prioritize getting food waste, which contributes significantly to methane emissions, out of local landfills.

That effort has culminated in the first phase of a pilot program, launched in early 2022, to collect compost and food scraps from Durham residents. The city also launched an educational component to encourage residents to do their own backyard composting, occasionally running sales on composting units. 

In July, the city launched its second phase in the pilot, making drop-off containers available at sites around the city for residents who don’t have backyard space (or don’t want to do their own composting). Through a partnership with composting pickup company CompostNow, residents download an app and can drop off their compost in containers at sites at City Hall or the recycling and disposal center on East Club Boulevard or at other locations. 

The third prong of the city’s food scraps pilot includes curbside collection, an initiative that originally included 80 households in Walltown that received a food scraps collection container and outdoor cart. Food scraps are collected once a week and the city wants to learn how to launch a collection initiative at scale. The trial has since expanded to include more than 400 households, and the city is exploring how to make the program citywide.

“…The enthusiasm we saw in the past when curbside recycling first started—people were very interested and very willing, and communities saw it as a really good thing,” says Joseph Fenton, the City of Durham’s Solid Waste Management department director. “We’re kind of now revisiting this with food scraps. People are very interested. They hear about issues with methane and greenhouse gases and they would like to do their part.”

The Solid Waste Department will ask to expand to five additional food scraps drop-off locations in its 2025-2026 fiscal year budget request, with units distributed across the city to serve a broader population. 

Read Gabi Mendick’s story on the Durham food scraps pilot here, and have a good Monday.

—Jane

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