Greenwich, CT Food Scrap Recycling Pilot Program

Food scrap recycling is coming to Greenwich, and you can help!  The Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board and Waste-Free Greenwich, in partnership with the Town of Greenwich Department of Public Works, Conservation Commission, and Greenwich Green & Clean, are organizing and implementing a Food Scrap Recycling pilot to launch April 2020.  The drop off program will be voluntary and free to all Greenwich residents. Residents will collect food scraps at home and bring them to a designated location at Holly Hill Resource Recovery Center. A hauler will then cart the material to a commercial composting facility where it will be turned into nutrient-rich compost.  Your contributions will support the purchasing of necessary materials, educational programming and operations to make this program a success!

Residents will collect food scraps at home in a countertop pail using approved compostable bags and store them in bins.  The collected material will then be brought to the drop off site, a designated location at Holly Hill Resource Recovery Facility  Accepted items will include:

• ALL FOOD, including

  • Fruits and vegetables

  • Meat and poultry

  • Fish and shellfish

  • Dairy products

  • Bread and pasta

  • Rice and grains

  • Egg shells

  • Chips and snacks

  • Nuts and seeds

  • Leftover, spoiled and expired food

  • Coffee grounds

• Tea bags

• Paper towels and napkins

• Cut flowers

• Compostable bags

It is highly recommended that residents purchase starter kits available in spring.  Kits include one 2-gallon countertop pail, one 6-gallon home storage and transportation bin and compostable bags for your pail.

Food scraps are one of the largest components of trash sent to landfills and incinerators.  In Connecticut, food scraps account for over 22% of municipal solid waste. However, food scraps are not trash, they are a potentially valuable resource that can be turned into useful compost, a soil amendment that enriches our soil, maximizes plant growth, prevents soil erosion and mitigates the frequency of water, fertilizer and pesticide use.  

Recycling food scraps into compost captures their nutrients and energy and returns them to the environment.  When food scraps are incinerated or landfilled, this resource is lost. Food scraps are wet and heavy, decreasing the efficiency of incinerators, and in landfills, the material creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat contributing to climate change. Composting food scraps turns that story around!  Instead of wasting energy trying to burn food, or creating methane from landfilling it, composting food scraps produces a useful and valuable product that gives back to our nutrient life cycle, resulting in cleaner soil, water and air.

The act of composting can also help change habits.  As residents begin to separate their food waste from the rest of their garbage, they become more aware of how much food they toss, prompting them to buy less.  Ultimately, this can lead to less garbage collected and potentially less waste management expenses.  The food scrap recycling program is part of a broader town commitment and plan to sustainability and waste reduction, in response to the rising costs of municipal solid waste disposal and recycling.