Food Composting in the State of Florida

 

The state of Florida missed its goal of recycling 75 percent of municipal waste by 2020. Organic waste—yard waste, food waste, and other paper—made up about 27 percent of the total waste in Florida landfills in 2020.¹ With that, one has to wonder if the state might have met its goal with improved organics recycling efforts.

Recycling organic matter means allowing it to decompose into fertilizer that can return to the earth, ie. composting. Organic matter composts naturally, but humans can help or hinder the process depending on how we dispose of our organic waste. Yard trimmings, biosolids, and certain food scraps can be composted. Throughout the state of Florida, we have compost programs to support yard trimmings and solid waste. However, Orlando is the only city that has a public composting infrastructure in place for composting food scraps.

Despite efforts of organizations like FORCE Florida to emphasize the importance of organic waste recycling, the state recycled only 6 percent of food waste in 2020.² While this is a notable improvement from just 2 percent in 2019, that means 94 percent of food waste collected still went to a landfill.³

With that glaring opportunity, this article focuses on food waste composting, and all mentions of composting from here forward refer to food scraps.

Why Compost Food Instead of Putting it in the Trash? 

When food scraps go into a landfill—often within a plastic bag—not only do they make our landfills larger, but they undergo anaerobic decomposition. The anaerobic decomposition produces methane, which contributes to global warming. And it’s worth noting that three of the top ten methane-emitting landfills in the US are reported to be in central Florida.⁴

When composted instead of put in a landfill, food scraps are able to decompose through the more natural aerobic digestion process where methane is not produced. Composting also creates enriching soil that can be used to fuel new food growth.⁵ Food in a landfill takes up space and generates methane. Food in a compost can be returned to the soil and provide regenerative value to our ecosystem.

Think about it: No apple tree ever dropped its fruit to have it wrapped in plastic and sit to rot apart from the ecosystem around it. Composting is not novel, it’s the original model.

Does Florida Have Public Services for Composting? 

There is hardly any public infrastructure for food waste composting in Florida, with the exception of a few counties like Orlando and Leon County. These counties offer public composting collection services like food scrap pick-up for businesses and drop-off locations for residents. Other counties in Florida, like Brevard, are hoping to follow suit and pilot their own composting programs. However, with the current lack of compost processing infrastructure, launching such programs may require a good deal of organizing.

For example, in Orlando, the city’s waste facility doesn’t have the infrastructure to process the compost, so all collected scraps are driven about 45 minutes out of the city to be processed (not an ideal leg in a process meant to be environmentally friendly). Then there is the fact that public compost programs will require residents to pay a fee for the labor and time devoted to collection and processing like they do for garbage and recycling.

In answer to this, Orlando Sustainability Project Coordinator Brittany McPeak likes to remind people that food scraps in the compost means less garbage. Less garbage may require fewer pick-ups and could actually lead to smaller garbage fees for residents and businesses (as long as waste pick-up services are agile enough to respond to changing volumes).

Despite these challenges, states like California, Connecticut, and Vermont, are growing their composting infrastructure and setting rigorous food waste diversion goals.⁶ Fellow southern cities—like Austin, TX—have successfully implemented and scaled composting programs, too.* The models are out there; we just need Florida to continue to prioritize organic waste recycling.

Home Composting Solutions 

Luckily, many of us do not need to wait for public infrastructure to reduce the amount of food we send to landfill, we can turn to at-home composting in their backyard, or on a patio or balcony. With the largest percent of food waste coming from residential sources,⁷ at-home composting can make a notable impact. If you’re new to the sport, you can find information on home composting at the epa.gov.

There are some limitations to home composting worth recognizing. While veggie scrap composting is relatively simple, at-home composts do not usually have the heat or technology to compost animal products or compostable packaging. This is less of an issue for people who can reduce animal product and packaging consumption, both of which have other positive downstream effects on the environment.

While not impossible, onsite composting may not be so practical for apartment dwellers, and food producing businesses like hotels, schools, and restaurants. Such institutions just may not be able to dedicate the space and time to composting onsite. For example, Jimmy Everett, Chef and Owner of Driftwood in Boynton Beach, tried onsite composting when he opened his environmentally conscious restaurant. With staff and time limitations, it became clear that onsite composting was not going to be a feasible solution.

So, what is the alternative when the city isn’t collecting? Determined to handle his food waste responsibly, Jimmy joined a privately owned community food scrap pick up service—Let it Rot. Let it Rot is a worm farming business** that collects food scraps from residents and businesses and processes the scraps into nutrient rich soil. Jimmy pays a monthly fee to be a customer of Let it Rot, and he is happy to support them with his business.

The Private Composting Revolution 

There is a whole composting community across the U.S. with businesses like Let It Rot, but they are certainly not without their challenges. For example, Let it Rot owner Melissa Corichi currently accepts new business across Palm Beach County, but for a time she had to limit her intake area while looking for a new community garden partner. Composting work currently does not provide enough income for Melissa to buy her own processing plot, so she is dependent on partnerships to keep her running in all the areas that want her services.

Other challenges come with the compost pick-up process. Charlie Pioli, founder of O-Town Compost in Orlando, points out that pick-ups can be economically inefficient if you do not have a dense route (a route with several customers to pick up from in one area). Since composting is not really the norm, it is likely that a composter will have a sparse and unprofitable route when starting off, which could ironically limit their ability to serve more customers.

Then there is the small detail that community composters are technically illegal in many parts of the state. This is partially to ensure that all waste is being managed in a safe and sanitary fashion, but it is also because community composters do not technically have rights to the waste. Cities can manage their own waste programs, or they can hire a waste contractor, and the city or the contractor usually has exclusivity over all the waste in the area.

Many municipalities still want to see community composters succeed in their work, though, so they are looking at updating city laws. In the meantime, cities are finding ways to co-exist, like calling Let it Rot a worm farm instead of a compost business.

All in all, these challenges are not stopping private composters from making an impact. As of August 5, 2021, O-Town Compost has composted 168,507 pounds of food scraps since its inception in early 2020. That’s 168,507 less pounds of food sitting in a landfill. For those interested in joining the movement, check out a list of Florida community composters and compost drop off sites to see what is near you.

The Future of Florida Composting 

There is certainly room for the state, cities, and individuals to better understand and support private composting businesses that are working to reduce the food that goes to landfill in their communities. There is also nothing but opportunity to create publicly available composting through existing city waste programs.

Florida has recently made some efforts to prioritize composting. Earlier this year, State Senator Janet Cruz from Hillsborough County introduced Florida State Bill 1764 (SB 1764). The bill would require “commercial waste generators and certain institutions” to recycle (compost) organic waste material. The bill outlined milestones to reach for in 2022 and 2024.

The bill didn’t make it past the office of Environment and Natural Resources and was laid to rest on April 30, 2021, possibly because we looked around and realized that those “commercial waste generators” had nowhere to take their waste for composting. Perhaps we need composting infrastructure initiatives driven on a national level, which the recently proposed COMPOST Act would help create. You can learn more about the act in the notes and resources section of this article.

The Good News 

The good news is that there are dedicated organizations, lawmakers, and individuals helping move the composting conversation forward. As we move towards a society of people who are more informed about the benefits and practicalities of composting, we are sure to see a shift in the way we treat our leftover food.

Sinclaire Dickinson is a writer, yoga teacher, and graduate student at the Institute of Humane Education. Sinclaire writes about topics she feels will benefit the collective wellbeing of fellow beings and the planet. 

Notes

1. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (2020) 2020 Solid Waste Management Report: https://floridadep.gov/waste/waste-reduction/content/2020-solid-waste-management-report 
2. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (2020) 2020 Total Tons MSW Collected and Recycled: https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/2020%20Total%20Tons%20Collected%20and% 20Recycled_Other_Paper_Food_Misc.pdf
3. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (2019) Total Tons of MSW Collected and Recycled: https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/2019_Total_Tons_of_MSW_Other_Paper_Food_Textil es_Misc.pdf
4. Environmental Protection Agency (2019) Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities: https://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/main.do#/listFacility/ *The complicated process of tracking methane gas in landfills could lead to overstating or understating emissions and some parties are contesting these numbers. Read more at wmfe.org.
5. National Resource Defense Council (2020) Composting Benefits: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-101#benefits
6. National Council of State Legislatures (2017) Fighting Food Waste: https://www.ncsl.org/research/agriculture-and-rural-development/fighting-food-waste
7. National Resource Defense Council (2017) Wasted Report: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf

Sources

* Read the Austin, Texas composting story

**Let it Rot is classified as a worm farm and not a compost business due to the rules and regulations around composting in Florida. Learn more about organic recycling facility regulations.

Why are we leaving so much food unconsumed in the U.S. anyways? Learn more about the Problem of Food Waste. 

The 2021 COMPOST Act 

The COMPOST Act, which Congresswoman Julia Brownley introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 16, 2021, aims to proactively advance composting infrastructure and provide funding for both large-scale and community composting projects throughout the U.S.

The passing of this bill could be the next step towards curbing the food-to-landfill pipeline in the U.S., reducing methane emissions, and making our food economy more circular. If you want to support the COMPOST Act, there’s an easy pre-filled template you can send to your local officials. Support the COMPOST Act.