Mayor Byron W. Brown and Buffalo’s Farmer Pirates Compost launched a new curbside residential food scrap collection pilot program, called Scrap It! Curbside. The initiative is part of Mayor Brown’s continued effort to expand the City’s food scrap recycling initiative. He stated, “We’re excited to launch Scrap It! Curbside, a residential food scrap collection pilot program, which we hope will serve as a model for future expansion to households citywide. By diverting food scraps, we will continue to lower the City’s solid waste disposal costs, reduce household waste, and continue to utilize every means necessary to reduce what we put in the waste stream. I thank Buffalo’s Farmer Pirates Compost for teaming up with the City on this residential food scrap collection initiative which continues our efforts to increase recycling and better protect our environment.”
Urban Farmer Terra Dumas, co-owner of Farmer Pirates Compost, stated, “As pioneers of Buffalo’s food scrap composting program over 10 years ago, we are thrilled to partner with Mayor Brown and the City of Buffalo to continue to increase access to composting and reduce waste, citywide!” New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, “Congratulations to the city of Buffalo and Mayor Brown for leading the charge to reduce waste and harmful methane emissions with the food scrap curbside collection pilot. Food scraps make up almost 20 percent of New York’s household waste and when this is disposed of at landfills, it creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Programs such as DEC’s Municipal Food Scraps Recycling Initiatives help communities make a difference both in the lives of those in need and in the ongoing fight against climate change. Municipal and private partnerships like the one between Buffalo and Farmer Pirates Compost provide an excellent model for communities statewide.”
As part of the pilot program, the city will provide 220+ participating households from each of the City’s nine council districts with brown food scrap totes, information on what can and can’t be recycled, and compostable liners. As part of this initial phase, a total of 2,000 City of Buffalo households will be eligible to take part, on a first come, first served basis. Participating households will be asked to put their brown totes curbside on their regularly scheduled garbage pickup day. Farmer Pirates Compost will pick up the food scraps once a week on those regularly scheduled refuse collection days and transfer the food scraps to their compost site at 0 Gittere St. Buffalo, NY, 14211.