Composting Roundup
Atlas Organics' Compost House program uses 5-gallon collection pails with a compostable liner.

BioCycle September 2017, Vol. 58, No. 8, p. 16
Residential Organics Diversion In Toronto
Source separated organics collection is available to 65 percent of Toronto’s multifamily residential buildings.

Almost 160,000 tons of source separated organics were collected for anaerobic digestion and/or composting in 2016. About 78% came from households.
Peter Gorrie
BioCycle August 2017, Vol. 58, No. 7, p. 24
Composting Roundup
2017 Midwest Compost School

BioCycle  June 2017, Vol. 58, No. 5, p. 9
2017 Midwest Compost School, Tomato Grower Expands Into Composting, Aminopyralid Contamination Detected In Compost, Pilot Promotes Food Waste Composting, Community Composting Expansion, City’s Compost Achieves OMRI Certification, Household Organics Collection Kicks Off
Hennepin County Residential Food Scraps Diversion
Residents at a Minneapolis open house raise their hands if they signed up for the city’s residential curbside organics collection service. Households receive a 32-gallon organics cart.

Municipalities in this Minnesota region offer food scraps collection to households using a voluntary participation approach.
Dan Emerson
BioCycle May 2017, Vol. 58, No. 4, p. 28
Composting Roundup
Garden City Compost

BioCycle March/April 2017, Vol. 58, No. 3, p. 15
Food Waste Collection Truck Innovations
The ROTO-PAC® marketed by New Way has a retractable arm that can extend 12-feet (left) and a rotating auger mounted in the collection hopper (inset) that mixes and shreds organics, freeing up space in the truck body.

Manufacturers are responding to the increased demand for vehicles that can service commercial and residential source separated organics collection.
Barbara Hesselgrave
BioCycle February 2017, Vol. 58, No. 2, p. 24
Testing Household Food Scraps Collection Methods
Alexandria recently completed a 3-month residential food scraps curbside collection pilot; 406 households signed up for the free service.

Two northern Virginia municipalities evaluate options to divert residential food scraps — from 24/7 drop-off to curbside collection.
Marsha Johnston
BioCycle January 2017, Vol. 58, No. 1, p. 28
Big Apple Goes Big On Organics Recycling
NYC Compost Project community composting programs are implemented by DSNY-funded teams at seven host organizations, including Big Reuse in the borough of Queens (seen here).

New York City’s Sanitation Department is making headway in its commitment to expand organics collection to serve all New York City residents by the end of 2018.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle January 2017, Vol. 58, No. 1, p. 38
Bike Powered Food Scraps Collection
Figure 3. City Sprouts’ custom trike

Services utilizing bikes pulling trailers are starting up all over the U.S. Entrepreneurs share lessons learned.
Virginia Streeter and Brenda Platt
BioCycle January 2017, Vol. 58, No. 1, p. 46
Food Scraps Collection In A Rural County
Food and floral scraps from the collection pilot (inset) have been composted at Emmet County’s existing yard trimmings composting site.

Emmet County, Michigan conducted commercial food and floral scraps collection pilots in 2015 and 2016. Tonnages diverted increased by close to 50 percent this year.
Craig Coker and Elisa Seltzer
BioCycle December 2016, Vol. 57, No. 11, p. 16
Composting Roundup

BioCycle October 2016, Vol. 57, No. 9, p. 11
Growing Community Collection And Composting In Philadelphia
Bennett Compost uses a Toro stand-behind mini skid steer loader to help manage the aerated static piles. A portion of the compost and soil blends (inset) produced are given back to customers as a benefit.

City Sprouts and Bennett Compost service households and businesses with food scraps collection, and compost most of the organics at their small-scale operations.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle October 2016, Vol. 57, No. 9, p. 35
Composting Roundup
Walkway Marathon’s Green Team achieved a waste diversion rate of 73 percent

BioCycle September 2016, Vol. 57, No. 8, p. 15
Solution Driven Organics Recycler

Ag Choice hauls, depackages and produces animal feed and compost. Founders Jay and Jill Fischer embrace new opportunities, and then figure out how to maximize efficiencies and profitability.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle September 2016, Vol. 57, No. 8, p. 26
Compostable Products And Postconsumer Food Scraps
Food scraps and compostable products

A recent blog exchange between a restaurant group and its organics collection service captures the challenges and opportunities around postconsumer food scraps diversion.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle August 2016, Vol. 57, No. 7, p. 21
Organics Recovery On Rise At University Of Alberta
Figure 1. Timeline for SUB and HUB programs

University utilizing a “characterize-implement-evaluate-adjust” approach to its Zero Waste pilot projects to optimize program performance and diversion. Part II
S. Leblanc, J. Kwasny, K. Yan and D. McCartney
BioCycle August 2016, Vol. 57, No. 7, p. 24
Small-Scale Composter Grows With Food Scraps
Information provided to Adam’s Hometown Market’s grocers selling New England Compost’s bagged compost that includes food scraps from those stores.

New England Compost has been steadily growing its collection and composting service since featured in BioCycle last fall.
Dan Emerson
BioCycle August 2016, Vol. 57, No. 7, p. 35
Commercial Food Waste Collection Assessment

Planning council explores voluntary and collaborative approaches with generators, collectors and processors to increase food waste recycling in the Houston-Galveston region.
E. Livingston, C. Mergo, S. Crain and M. Sines
BioCycle July 2016, Vol. 57, No. 6, p. 26
BioCycle Portals To Organics Recycling In U.S. & Canada
New home page BioCycle FindAComposter.com

Updated BioCycle FindAComposter.com and the brand new BioCycle FindADigester.com and FindOrganicsHauler.com are launched and open for listings.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle June 2016, Vol. 57, No. 5, p. 16
Plate To Garden Compost Program
Compost is transported in bulk to the host site. The participating group and their volunteers bag the compost with tools and supplies from the MNCC.

Minnesota Composting Council’s Plate To Garden Compost program gives schools and organizations participating in SSO diversion an opportunity to sell finished compost as a fundraiser.
Marcus Zbinden, Anne Ludvik and Jake Duame
BioCycle May 2016, Vol. 57, No. 4, p. 18
University Of Alberta Strives For Zero Waste
The number of material streams was simplified from six to four, and new signage was developed accordingly for the Zero Waste stations.

Campus analyzes costs, collection systems and logistics to increase diversion of organics, which will be processed at City of Edmonton’s new AD facility. Part I
J. Kwasny, S. Leblanc, K. Yan and D. McCartney
BioCycle May 2016, Vol. 57, No. 4, p. 21
Organically Growing Organics Collection
Rust Belt Riders (from left to right) Jesse Williams, Michael Robinson and Daniel Brown stand in front of one day’s worth of collected food scraps at the Rid-All Green Partnership farm.

Cleveland’s Rust Belt Riders started out with bikes and trailers, and gradually expanded to cart-based food scraps collection to service a growing number of commercial enterprises.
Claire Siegrist
BioCycle May 2016, Vol. 57, No. 4, p. 33
Finding Common Ground In Quest For Clean Organics
A research study provided households with compostable Ziploc bags and tracked them from homes to a commercial composting site via the grade school. Material on tarp represents an audit sample of food scraps from a school cafeteria.

A compost manufacturer and a consumer packaged goods manufacturer collaborate on a compostable bag research trial in Washington State.
Susan Thoman and Jeff Zettle
BioCycle May 2016, Vol. 57, No. 4, p. 35
Tackling Contamination In Food Scraps Stream
Contaminants in food scrap stream.

Workgroup in Washington State that includes local officials, organics recyclers and food and packaging industry representatives is identifying solutions to contaminant reduction.
Craig Coker
BioCycle March/April 2016, Vol. 57, No. 3, p. 29
Composting Roundup
Zero to Go (ZTG), an education-oriented company that provides recycling and organics collection services at small (under 500 people) and large (3,000+ people) events in the Hudson Valley.

BioCycle January 2016, Vol. 57, No. 1 p.14
Food Scraps Service For Urban Dwellers
Bootstrap Compost, Boston

Bootstrap Compost started out collecting household food scraps via bicycles and has expanded into cargo vans and commercial organics.
Dan Emerson
BioCycle January 2016, Vol. 57, No. 1 p.21
Residential Food Scraps Drop Off
Residents bring food scraps to the Drop Spots, where they are collected and taken to Cayuga Compost. Tompkins County provides households a tool kit that includes a countertop kitchen caddy, a supply of compostable liners and a 6-gallon transport container.

Tompkins County, New York is utilizing Drop Spots to offer food scraps diversion to residents, an economic option enabling more household participation.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle January 2016, Vol. 57, No. 1 p.26
Doubling Residential Organics Diversion With Pay-As-You-Throw
Brattleboro’s Pay-As-You-Throw program offers a yellow 13-gallon bag for $2 and a 33-gallon purple bag for $3.

A mandate in Vermont that requires variable rate pricing for residential solid waste collection and disposal went into effect on July 1. So far, it’s benefitted food waste recycling.
Robert Spencer
BioCycle September 2015, Vol. 56, No. 8, p. 42
Controlling Contamination In Collected Organics
Physical contaminants of most concern to composters are the Big Three: Plastics, glass and produce stickers (above).

The Washington Department of Ecology, local governments and composters are working together to identify reasons behind increasing amounts of physical contamination and ways to reduce it.
Mary Harrington
BioCycle July 2015, Vol. 56, No. 6, p. 22
Composting Roundup

BioCycle May 2015, Vol. 56, No. 4, p. 12

San Diego Hotel Goes Big On Sustainability
All containers and carts are brought to a central food waste collection area where they are emptied into a 20-cy solar-powered compactor, which utilizes about 50 percent less energy than a standard compactor.

Hotel with over 1,000 guest rooms is diverting close to 400 tons annually of preconsumer food trimmings and postconsumer food scraps.
Ana Carvalho
BioCycle February 2015, Vol. 56, No. 2, p. 30
BioCycle Nationwide Survey: Residential Food Waste Collection In The U.S.
Bridgewater (CT) food waste collection

BioCycle identified 198 communities with curbside collection of food scraps, representing 2.74 million households spread out over 19 states. Part II
Rhodes Yepsen
BioCycle January 2015, Vol. 56, No. 1, p. 53
New York City Organics Collection
NYC residential curbside waste pie chart

Two-year pilot program to collect residential and school source separated organics is into its second year. This update reviews progress, challenges and next steps.
Bridget Anderson
BioCycle January 2015, Vol. 56, No. 1, p. 64
Organics Recycler Services Midwest Region
Agricultural and horticultural grades of compost are manufactured. Prices range from $8 to $20/ton.

With almost 30 years of organics processing under its belt, Iowa-based Chamness Technology manages a variety of feedstocks in several states.
Dan Emerson
BioCycle January 2015, Vol. 56, No. 1, p. 25
Composting Roundup
Athens, Greece organics collection pilots

BioCycle December 2014, Vol. 55, No. 11, p. 12

Managing Fall Leaves In Victoria, British Columbia
The Residential Leaf Pick-Up Program takes place over four months, starting in October when trees first drop their leaves.

The City Parks Division has taken steps to reduce the carbon footprint of its annual leaf collection as well as expanded applications for finished compost and leaf mulch.
Ken Hilchey
BioCycle October 2014, Vol. 55, No. 9, p. 27
Taking States’ Pulse On Residential Food Waste Collection
General awareness of what composting is and how compost can be used to beautify neighborhoods are significant benefits of residential food scraps drop-off programs, like this one at a New York City Greenmarket.

State composting, recycling and/or solid waste officials provide perspectives on adoption of curbside collection and composting of source separated residential food scraps. Part I
Rhodes Yepsen
BioCycle October 2014, Vol. 55, No. 9, p. 39
Food Waste Collection Innovations
Perkins’ Food Waste Lifter slides the cart straight up over the loading edge of the container. This keeps the tilting pivot close to the cart’s center of gravity, creating a constricted rotating arc and avoiding spillage.

Source separating food waste for diversion to composting and anaerobic digestion is in full swing, leading to innovations in equipment to service the programs.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle July 2014, Vol. 55, No. 6, p. 46
Composting Roundup
CJ Kimbell and Ethan Bumps, Kimbell Compost, LLC, Burlington, Vermont

BioCycle June 2014, Vol. 55, No. 5, p. 12

Food Scraps Diversion Goes To School
Charleston County School District food waste diversion

Beginning with the youngest, more and more residents are learning to source separate organics in Charleston County, South Carolina.
Nate Clark
BioCycle May 2014, Vol. 55, No. 4, p. 21
Rolling Out A Statewide Organics Ban
The largest generators of food scraps (>104 tons/year) must start separating them on July 1, 2014 if there is a permitted composting facility within 20 miles to receive them. Green Mountain Compost in Williston, Vermont, a municipally-funded operation, is permitted to take food scraps.

Vermont’s Act 148 makes state first in the nation to mandate residential food scraps recycling and pay-as-you-throw solid waste collection to incentivize diversion.
Robert Spencer
BioCycle March/April 2014, Vol. 55, No. 3, p. 82
California City Advances Commercial Organics Recycling
Seven grocery stores are participating in Cupertino’s Food Recovery Challenge (example of container above). A total of 2,000 tons of food waste has been diverted.

City of Cupertino receives U.S. EPA Innovation Award for integrating its ambitious food waste reduction goals with its waste hauler.
Molly Farrell Tucker
BioCycle January 2014, Vol. 55, No. 1, p. 36
War Veteran Succeeds On The Composting Front
Justen Garrity (inset) leased an 80-acre property that includes about 30 acres of farmland and 50 acres of woods. About 2 acres are used for the composting operation.

Unable to find a desirable job after returning from Iraq, Justen Garrity decided to open a composting business on a Maryland farm where he employs veterans and their family members.
Molly Farrell Tucker
BioCycle December 2013, Vol. 54, No. 12, p. 16
Composting Roundup
Composting on the Bently Ranch in Carson Valley, Nevada

BioCycle November 2013, Vol. 54, No. 11, p. 11
• Minden, Nevada: Composting On The Ranch
• Malmo, Sweden: Online Composting University
• Upper Marlboro, Maryland: Food Waste Composting Pilot Project
• Cambridge, Massachusetts: Curbside Residential Food Waste Collection Pilot
• Bennington, Vermont: Hauler Expands To Food Waste Composting
• Okeechobee, Florida: Indoor, Industrial-Scale Composting On Tribal Land
• Lansing, Michigan: Bill To Repeal Yard Trimmings Ban Defeated
Sacramento Food Waste Digester Fuels Collection Fleet
The DODA depackaging/ preprocessing system at the Sacramento BioDigester is sized for a 100 tons/day. Loads include cans of off-spec food that are tipped onto the conveyor belt of the system.

An anaerobic digestion facility that expects to be processing 100 tons/day of source separated organics by 2014 is already fueling 10 trucks daily with renewable CNG.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle July 2013, Vol. 54, No. 7, p. 56
Food Waste Collection Trucks And Lifts
Travis Trailer’s Organics Trailer Tote Dumper is an all-aluminum, self-loading and unloading unit with a bucket that has 4,000 lbs lifting capacity. A battery-powered pallet jack — used to bring full containers of food waste to the truck — is transported in the bucket between stops.

Haulers, as well as manufacturers of trailers, floors and lifts used to collect and transport food waste, are experiencing growing demand for their services and equipment.
Nora Goldstein
BioCycle July 2013, Vol. 54, No. 7, p. 33
Alternate Weekly Waste Collections Work
Recyclables set out for curbside collection are segregated into multiple streams in Stirling Council, including clear glass.

In the United Kingdom, 299 out of 406 local authorities have introduced alternate weekly collection of household refuse. Many combine it with weekly collection of food waste.
David Riggle
BioCycle July 2013, Vol. 54, No. 7, p. 52
Rural Communities And Single Stream Adoption
The typical rural community in New England has community transfer stations where there is no curbside recycling or trash collection. Households bring their recyclables to dropoff centers where they sort them by material.

Survey data shows households prefer transporting recyclables to the transfer station and sorting them there, and favor programs that increase the community recycling rate.
Christopher Wright and John M. Halstead
BioCycle April 2013, Vol. 54, No. 4, p. 40
Composting Roundup
Gore® Cover at Florence, Oregon Wastewater Treatment Plant's composting facility

BioCycle April 2013, Vol. 54, No. 4, p. 12
Residential Food Waste Collection In The U.S. — BioCycle Nationwide Survey
U.S. Food waste collection programs by number of municipalities and number of households

Growth of residential food waste collection in the U.S. is steady, with existing programs seeking to increase household participation.
Rhodes Yepsen
BioCycle March 2013, Vol. 54, No. 3, p. 23

This expanded online version included expanded tables with additional program details as well as additional information about municipal programs.
BioCycle World
Halton Region multifamily collection bins

BioCycle November 2012, Vol. 53, No. 11, p. 6
Composting Roundup
Chesapeake Compost Works opened October 1, 2012 in a 54,000-square-foot building in the industrial section of Baltimore City. The building housing the composting facility is more than 100 years old and has had many past uses, including airplane and train manufacturing.

BioCycle October 2012, Vol. 53, No. 10, p. 12
Making The Move To Alternate Week Trash Collection
Portland, Oregon rolled out its residential three-stream solid waste collection service last fall with weekly pick-up of organics and biweekly pick-up of trash. Diapers and pet waste are not allowed in the organics cart.

Biweekly garbage collection is being implemented to increase recycling and either introduce or enhance the diversion of source separated organic wastes.
Peter Gorrie
BioCycle August 2012, Vol. 53, No. 8, p. 25
Fresh Composting Start In Guelph, Ontario
Guelph, Ontario composting tunnel

BioCycle April 2012, Vol. 53, No. 4, p. 37
New facility is designed to process 33,000 tons/year of source separated organics from residential curbside collection.
Residential Food Waste Collection In The U.S.

The number of communities in the U.S. with residential food waste collection service has grown by more than 50 percent since 2009.
Rhodes Yepsen
BioCycle January 2012, Vol. 53, No. 1, p. 23