Top Photo: NewTerra Compost’s co-founders, Normand Lavoie and Michael Ryan.

Chattanooga residents now have citywide access to food scrap composting following a successful pilot with local organics recycler NewTerra Compost.

The expanded program builds on a city partnership launched in 2025 that initially offered curbside food scrap collection in select neighborhoods and drop-off access at Chattanooga recycling centers. The pilot was funded through an Organics Management Grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

During the pilot, 669 households diverted nearly 98,000 pounds of food waste from landfill, according to information released with the expansion announcement. The city and NewTerra are now extending access through drop-off kiosks available to households across Chattanooga. There is no fee to drop off food scraps.

Residents who sign up receive a collection bucket, compostable liner, and guidance on what can and cannot be accepted. The program allows households to divert a wider range of materials, including meat, dairy, bones, fruits and vegetables, and coffee grounds. Plastics, glass, metal, liquids, and conventional trash are excluded.

The city’s original pilot was designed around a combination of neighborhood curbside collection and citywide drop-off access. It began in the Brainerd area before expanding into Missionary Ridge, Ridgedale, and Highland Park. Food scraps were collected weekly from participating curbside households, while residents outside the collection zones could use kiosks at the city’s recycling centers.

The expansion gives NewTerra and Chattanooga a larger base from which to test participation and diversion while building public familiarity with food scrap separation. It also shows how a local composter and municipality can use state grant funding to establish collection infrastructure without waiting for a universal curbside program.

Chattanooga has positioned the composting program as one way to reduce that disposal while keeping recovered nutrients in the region. For NewTerra, the citywide expansion marks a significant step from serving individual residential and commercial customers to helping establish broader municipal access to organics recycling.