How does it work?
Athens Clarke County (ACC) will supply the UUFA with two 32-gallon bins. Every Monday ACC will pick up the food scraps and take them to the ACC composting facility. These food scraps are turned into compost. This compost is then available for purchase at $20 a pickup truckload. We use this compost on the UUFA grounds.
Where will the food collection bins be?
We will put the bins outside and near (or in) the garbage corral in the UUFA parking lot. The bins will be labeled for food scrap collection.
How do UUFA members get in on the food scrap collection?
Individual members of UUFA will collect their food scraps at their homes in compostable bags (only BPI-certified compostable) or in a container that can be dumped into our bins. At any time, a member can drop off their food scraps from their home into the bins at UUFA.
What food scraps are acceptable?
Anything that was once alive–paper, greasy pizza boxes, cheese, meat, bones, veggie, and fruit scraps.
What food scraps are not acceptable?
Do not include yard scraps or coated paper products. A lot of paper products have a coating of plastic. Do not put any plastic bags into the bins unless they are BPI-certified compostable.
Who pays?
The Food Justice Team will pay for the first year.
When will it start?
We are hoping to start the first of November.
Why is composting food scraps important?
The EPA estimates that more food reaches landfills than any other single material in our everyday trash, constituting 24 percent of municipal solid waste.
Keeping food scraps out of the landfill has a big impact: When it is trapped in a landfill, food waste decomposes slowly, and without oxygen. This process produces methane, which is a greenhouse gas 84 times more powerful than C02 over a 20-year period. You can make a significant step towards mitigating climate change by composting. your food scraps!
