The Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Department launched an organic food waste program about five years ago. This year, the county is on track to keep nearly 30,000 pounds of organic waste out of the landfill, the most waste ever collected. About 22,300 pounds of waste has been collected so far this year.
In 2018, a little more than 27,000 pounds of organic waste was diverted from the landfill through the program. “We expected that we would run this for a couple of years as a pilot program, and we’re hoping that we would have 100 households participating …Right now we’re at about 215 households,” said Mark Walter, Business Development Manager for the Port and Resource Recovery Dept. Organic waste accounts for 25% of waste that’s generated in the U.S., and there is an important reason why it should not go into a landfill.
“Anything that is organic, that breaks down in a landfill, creates methane; and methane is a greenhouse gas. It’s not good for the environment. We have to find a way of collecting it and treating it,” said Walter.