Community: City of Ferndale
Population: Over 12,001
Ferndale’s residential Compost Pilot Program launched in November 2021 and has been a successful method to support food waste collection in the community. The city partnered with NextCycle MI and My Green MI to service drop-off locations and commercial bins throughout the community. Supporting a residential program of 5 locations with 14 bins for a weekly capacity of 896-gallons. Organic waste is collected by a local hauler and taken to a local facility to be composted into STA certified compost. At the program’s midpoint, Ferndale has diverted 13.46 tons of food waste from landfills. This weight equates to 63.62 tons of Co2 not added to the air, and 2.67 million gallons of water not used (per EPA WARM tool). Educational materials were warmly received by residents and even city staff learned how to compost waste in their daily routine.
Replicability:
This program requires a funding source, compost hauler agreement, and the will of the community to reduce its environmental impact.
In Ferndale, we sought out a grant to fund the initial phase of the project: buying buckets, bins, and educational materials. Our Zero-Waste Coordinator then established a mutually beneficial hauling contract with My Green MI to collect the waste and transport it to a processing facility. The community then did the rest by participating and diverting their food waste. Going forward, the city will use Sanitation fund dollars to pay for the program, on the premise that less food waste at the curb reduces our overall need for traditional trash haulers.
Establishing the program was relatively simple and the impacts have already been eye opening with the data on diverted waste.
Creativity and Originality:
Composting is not new. What we strive to do is create a more convenient way for residents and businesses to deposit their collected waste without needing to drive to a local or regional center. The agreement we have brokered between the city and a private hauler, similar to a traditional sanitation contract, may be unique.
Community Impact:
We have heard from hundreds of residents who used this program to educate themselves on the proper methods of composting and the impact throwing food waste in a separate bin can have in the larger picture. Fun fact: Did you know that common restroom paper towels are compostable? Now you do, and you can divert that waste into a more productive end state than sitting in a landfill.
The reason Ferndale pursued this project was to study the utility of waste diversion and consider the big impacts widespread adoption can have. In Michigan, 3 million tons of compostable waste goes into landfills annually. Of that, about 1.6 tons are food waste. Composting this food waste supports a more sustainable future by reducing impacts on air and water quality.
There is also a vital public health benefit to turning waste into compost instead of sending it to a landfill. Filling landfills with unnecessary waste continues the long tradition of ruining land to store refuse. These landfills and other waste sites create environmental hazards and are often located in areas of lower socioeconomic status. This program starts on a local level but widespread implementation touches on even large problems like environmental justice.
