One year ago, the town created the program with the goal of collecting 16 tons of food scraps – waste that otherwise would’ve gone to a landfill. In that time, the pilot program exceeded goals by more than 150%, now earning it a permanent spot in the community. “Hearing from our Cary citizens, we know that they want to be more involved in composting opportunities. We know that they are passionate about reducing carbon emissions, we know that they care about the longevity of our landfills and the amount of space even that a landfill takes up,” Alyssa Campo Bowman, environmental manager for the Town of Cary, said.
This program started as a result of a trash analysis by Wake County that revealed 27% of municipal waste going into landfills was food waste. When the program was first introduced, Bowman said people had to adjust to what items were accepted. Unlike recycling, where things like pizza boxes and grease can contaminate the collection, compost can take any type of food scraps and leftovers, even including raw meat and bones. Other items that can also be dropped off include paper plates and napkins, along with coffee filters and teabags. However, Styrofoam, metal cans, plastic bags and any liquids are prohibited.
“If it grows, it goes,” Bowman said. “We want anything that is food-based, plant-based materials. Grass clippings, dead flowers, fruit scraps. All of that is good. And we have an additional benefit with this particular drop off in that we can accept meats, bones, cheeses.” In the past 12 months they collected 40 tons of food waste, which created 80,000 pounds of compost. Their partnership with Compost Now allows 10% of that to return directly to the Cary community at Good Hope Farm where the compost is put to use growing vegetables and other crops.