Chicago continues to look for ways to make composting more convenient for residents, short of implementing a full-scale municipal collection system. Officials announced 13 libraries will now serve as food scrap drop-off sites, through a partnership between the Department of Streets and Sanitation and Chicago Public Library. The addition of the library locations brings the total number of drop-off options to 33.
In the two years since Chicago launched a composting pilot program, some 7,500 households have signed up to participate and more than one million pounds of food waste has been diverted from landfills, according to officials. Using libraries as drop-off points brings composting 鈥渃loser to where people live, learn and gather,鈥� officials said.
To avoid the kind of contamination that has plagued Chicago鈥檚 recycling program, the composting program only accepts food scraps. No yard waste, no paper, no compostable bags or foodware 鈥� nothing that isn鈥檛 food 鈥� is permitted in order to keep the messaging simple.