Jennifer Porter and Rachel Weinberg
Food waste collection is a critical component of sustainable waste management, and this article outlines six solutions across the United States that are leading the way with innovative practices: RidWell in Seattle, Compost Colorado (CoCo) in Denver, Compost Fairy in Memphis, Compost Crew in the DC area, CompostNow in the Southeast, and WasteNot Compost in the Chicagoland area. These private companies provide a service in many places where municipal programs do not exist, or they co-exist alongside pilot or full-scale curbside and business programs. Beyond mere waste reduction, these pioneering programs are actively reshaping our relationship with food, fostering a more sustainable and community-centric future.
Featured Programs Overview
- RidWell was founded by Ryan Metzger and his son Owen as a small project to recycle hard-to-recycle items. Today, the company has grown to serve thousands of households in Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Portland, helping residents dispose of items that cannot be recycled through traditional means. RidWell offers a subscription-based model where members receive a bin for their food waste, which is collected on a regular schedule and transported to local composting facilities.
- Compost Colorado, also known as CoCo, operates in the Denver area and offers a comprehensive food waste collection service. CoCo provides residents and businesses with compost bins, which are collected on a weekly basis. Curbside residential pickup starts at $10/week for up to 10 gallons and community drop-off starts at $5/week for up to 5 gallons.
- Compost Fairy was started in Memphis with a mission to empower individuals and businesses to make a tangible difference in the environment. They provide residential and commercial curbside food waste collections, event collections, and a free drop off site.
- Compost Crew is a private food waste hauler that operates across the Greater Washington DC area and services over 20,000 homes. Compost Crew offers residential collection services starting at $32 per month, with some rates subsidized by municipal partners.
- CompostNow CompostNow serves the Research Triangle, , Atlanta, Asheville, and Cincinnati, providing compost collection and processing services for individuals, businesses, and entire communities.CompostNow provides compost containers and residential members can choose weekly or biweekly collections beginning at $29 per month.
- WasteNot Compost has been providing services for homes, businesses, schools, and events in the Chicagoland area since 2015. Founder Liam Donnelly was inspired to start the business at age 15 when he was working at a caf茅 and throwing away hundreds of pounds of coffee grounds each week. When he founded WasteNot, Liam started collecting food waste from customers using his bike and trailer. They now service over 5,000 customers. Weekly and biweekly residential services range from $13 – $40 per month for a 5-gallon bucket depending on collection frequency and location. In addition, WasteNot provides 32-gallon carts for multi-family and commercial customers.
Affordability and Convenience
Food waste collection often requires customers to change their behavior and pay additional costs to reduce their waste and impact on the environment. While many customers are motivated to take extra steps for sustainability, it is also important for food waste collections to be convenient and affordable in order to have the broadest reach and greatest impact. Providing curbside food waste collections is a significant way to reduce the barrier for participation. Each of the programs outlined above offers a variety of services at different price points, including residential and commercial curbside collection, event composting, and centrally located drop-off sites. Drop-off sites can be a more affordable option, and some companies offer them for free or a reduced cost at central locations such as the farmers鈥� market or City Hall. Multiple programs offer food waste collections at special events that can be arranged through a one-time service fee.
Community Engagement
As food waste collections programs expand throughout the United States, community engagement and education are important to spread awareness about the opportunities for and benefits of composting. Many programs focus on fostering a sense of community responsibility by participating in community events, hosting workshops, and providing resources to help customers reduce their food waste. Additionally, partnerships with schools and other community organizations have helped these programs to expand their reach and build a strong network of environmentally conscious community members.
Sustainability
The broader sustainability efforts of food waste diversion programs can be an important factor for providing holistic environmental and community benefit. Some organizations such as CoCo, Compost Crew, and CompostNow partner with local farms and gardens to ensure that the compost produced is used to enrich the soil and support local agriculture. This closed-loop system not only reduces waste but also promotes sustainable farming practices. In order to reduce the distance food scraps must travel to be converted to compost at commercial facilities, Compost Crew has developed the Compost Outpost, which is a modular composting site that can be installed on less than a quarter acre of land. Compost Outposts can be installed on farms, school campuses, community gardens, corporate campuses, municipal waste facilities, or any location with appropriate space. CoCo also operates a zero-waste shop that allows customers to order soap refills, cleaners, and other sustainable supplies to be delivered to customers鈥� compost collection sites. To further enhance sustainability efforts, Ridwell provides residents with cloth bags to sort items like light bulbs, clothes, and plastic wrap. They provide rotating categories such as prescription pill bottles and holiday lights, to help members declutter and reduce waste in new ways. These bags are then placed in RidWell bins by the front door for bi-weekly pickup. CompostNow works with municipalities to be their public-private partner in implementing compost services in your community. WasteNot started using bikes to collect and transport food waste, and they have since expanded from bike service but have maintained their commitment to sustainability with a 100% electric fleet.
Municipal Partnerships聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Public private partnerships provide an opportunity for future expansion of food waste collections and composting programs. Many municipalities already operate curbside garbage and recycle collections programs and therefore have collections infrastructure and customer base, and private food waste collections companies have expertise in food waste collections and composting. Successful public private partnerships are already happening across the country and can be used as a model for future efforts. CoCo is working closely with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Denver鈥檚 office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency to establish Denver鈥檚 first official compost facility. CompostNow is partnering with the City of Durham to support city-wide composting efforts through the implementation of drop-off sites for residents to drop off compost at no charge. WasteNot partners with municipalities to be the official curbside residential and commercial compost collection company for multiple Chicagoland communities. Compost Crew partners with dozens of local governments to provide drop-off sites and curbside collections for residential customers. Additionally, Compost Crew has bespoke arrangements with jurisdictions in its service area, where subscription fees for some residents are partially or fully subsidized by their municipality. These companies provide examples of ways private companies can partner with municipalities to reduce costs to residence, improve collections and operations, and develop composting facilities.
Transparency and Impact
Customers want to know the impact of their efforts. Multiple programs offer transparency to their members by showing where the waste goes and providing metrics and comprehensive reports that track waste diversion and demonstrate the positive environmental impact of their efforts. CoCo diverts over 50,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill each week, having distributed over 500 cubic yards of compost across the service area since starting service in 2018. CompostNow offers a unique feature where customers can track their environmental impact through an online dashboard. By combining convenience with sustainability, CompostNow has successfully diverted 100 million pounds of food waste from landfills since 2011.
Conclusion
Food waste collection systems like RidWell, Compost Colorado, Compost Fairy, Compost Crew, CompostNow, and WasteNot are making significant strides in addressing the issue of food waste in the US. Many of these companies are also collaborating with municipalities to expand their reach and help municipalities that are interested in implementing composting programs but do not have the necessary infrastructure. By engaging communities, providing convenient services, and promoting transparency, these programs are making progress to reduce food waste and contribute to environmental sustainability. These initiatives represent a powerful shift, demonstrating how smart strategies can simultaneously uplift communities, protect our planet, and redefine waste as a valuable resource. As the importance of sustainable waste management continues to grow, these innovative systems serve as valuable models for other communities looking to implement effective food waste collection programs and valuable partners to municipalities looking to offer food waste collection services.