Top Photo: Courtesy of CompostNow
CompostNow is expanding its municipal footprint in Georgia through a new curbside composting program with the City of Decatur, building on a pilot that tested how a city-led model could translate into a scalable residential service. The program allows residents to opt into weekly curbside collection for $19 per month. Participating households receive a 7-gallon bin, with service designed to mirror existing waste and recycling systems.
Decatur’s approach reflects a deliberate sequencing. The City first ran a six-month pilot serving 100 residents using grant funding, taking on collection and program management directly. That structure allowed staff to test routing, equipment, and participation before transitioning into a broader partnership model.
CompostNow was not the hauling partner during the pilot phase but served as the processing partner, with material transported to its facility in Meriwether County. Under the expanded program, CompostNow is providing collection, processing, onboarding, and customer support, while the City leads outreach and resident engagement.
That split reflects how the program is designed to function at scale. “Having density for this program and at this price point is very important for the success of this program,” CompostNow noted. “We find that municipalities taking ownership of these programs and using already well-established channels of communication is really important to get the word out.”
On the operations side, the company is focused on service reliability and participant experience. “It’s really important that we provide a clean, seamless service, and establish good feedback loops and lines of communication with participants,” the company added. “As long as we’re providing a good, reliable service people stick with it when they see how easy it is to do and how impactful it is for their household and their community.”
The program is the second municipal curbside effort CompostNow has launched in the Metro Atlanta region, following a pilot in Avondale Estates that transitioned into a subscription-based model after one year. Both programs were developed within existing service areas, but the company sees municipal partnerships as a pathway to expand into new markets with enough participation to support efficient routing and consistent volumes.
“Working with municipalities in this way is a really important part of growing our service and impact,” the company said. “With this program structure, we can grow outside of our current service areas and enter new markets with the needed density for these programs to be a success.”
The longer-term goal is for programs like Decatur’s to demonstrate sustained resident demand and transition into municipally-supported services. “Our goal is for these programs to be successful and for municipalities to see that success, and see that composting is a service their residents are interested and motivated to participate in,” CompostNow said.
The expansion comes as the company continues to scale across the Southeast. In 2025, CompostNow reported diverting more than 20 million pounds of food waste, surpassing 100 million pounds cumulatively since 2011. It serviced more than 669,000 containers with a 99.9% service success rate and returned over $250,000 worth of compost to local growers.
In Decatur, collected material will ultimately be processed and returned to regional soils through farm and community uses, maintaining a localized loop between collection and end markets.
As more municipalities explore organics programs, Decatur’s structure shows how early public investment, paired with private operational capacity, can move a pilot into a functioning curbside system without requiring a fully built-out municipal service from the outset.
