The city of Bozeman is exploring options to offer composting for food waste as a city service, like curbside garbage pickup. The city applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for the new program and is working to form partnerships to make it happen, like with Happy Trash Can. The local business can help provide processing services to compost raw waste the city collects.
The city offers composting for yard trimmings and leaves, but this is the first time it could offer compositing for food waste. Montana State University will also be a partner in the program. MSU and the city have had a project in place since 2015 to compost food waste from its dining halls. In 2018 and 2019, more than 500,000 pounds of food waste has been diverted from the landfill through the program.
Kevin Handelin, superintendent of the city’s solid waste division, said expanding the city’s compost program has been a goal for some time. “It’s something that’s been on our radar since realizing that many cities across the country have been really successful with this,” Handelin said. To get the program going, the city has applied for a $90,000 grant from the USDA and plans to match that with $22,500 from the city’s solid waste division. Handelin said he expects the city will know for sure if it gets the grant money later this fall.