Thousands have taken to the City of Ann Arbor's expanded composting program. It now allows residents to add all food scraps to their composting carts, and keeps the material out of landfills, benefiting the environment and, ultimately, the budget. WEMU's David Fair discusses the early successes of the program with Ann Arbor Solid Waste Coordinator, Tom McMurtrie
Ann Arbor Rolls out a Citywide Composting for Food Debris to Divert More Waste from Landfills
Overview
- After many years of planning, in April 2014 the City of Ann Arbor launched a citywide composting program for food scraps, including meat, bones, and other leftovers.
- Food waste composting can be challenging due to vermin and odors, and for a size of Ann Arbor to establish a program is quite innovative.
- Tom McMurtrie, Solid Waste Coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor, says that a significant portion of landfilled waste is food debris, and the program aims toward achieving the “zero waste” goal in the city’s Sustainability Framework, additionally the city will not incur any added costs to compost food scraps.
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