City Awarded Grant to Pilot Curbside Composting

Residents of Avondale Estates will soon be able to reduce the waste they send to the landfill through an easy, curbside compost pilot program. The city of Avondale Estates was awarded $323,800 through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Composting and Food Waste Reduction cooperative agreement to pilot curbside composting at city households. CompostNow, DeKalb County Super District 6 Commissioner Ted Terry, Food Well Alliance and Roots Down will partner with the city to launch this first-of-its-kind program in Georgia.

"The city is honored to collaborate with such strong partners to advance our collective interest in building a greener future," said Avondale Estates Mayor Jonathan Elmore. "I am proud of the work our city is doing and appreciate the USDA support of this important initiative."

CompostNow brings thirteen years of experience running a successful doorstep collections program to the project and will be responsible for curbside collection, compost distributions and metrics tracking.

The compost will be shared between local nonprofits Roots Down and Food Well Alliance. Roots Down will distribute the compost to edible gardens at local DeKalb County public libraries. Food Well Alliance will provide finished compost to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) farmers through the Food Well Alliance's Farm Resource Center. The initiative has set a goal to have 750 households participate over 12 months. The awarded funds will support the delivery of an estimated 15 yards of compost to eight different farms and 15 to 10 libraries.

"At CompostNow we are working hard to bring composting to as many communities as possible. Composting keeps valuable food scraps out of landfills and instead builds healthy soils locally. We believe this program will lead to important insights to help scale programs like this one across Dekalb County and beyond," said David Paull, Chief Impact Officer of CompostNow.

DeKalb County Super District 6 Commissioner Ted Terry is interested in developing a viable curbside compost program that can be replicated in other municipalities in DeKalb County. This pilot program will simplify residential composting, increase waste diversion from the landfill, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and support local BIPOC growers and edible gardens in less affluent DeKalb County communities by using compost to create healthier soils, reducing the need for fertilizer and increasing the rainwater absorption of the soil.

"Food waste is the single most common material in our landfills and is responsible for significant methane emissions. The more we can divert from the waste stream, the better for our people and our environment," said Commissioner Terry. "The USDA grant for composting and food waste reduction awarded to Avondale Estates is a shining example of what communities can achieve when they prioritize sustainability and environmental resiliency, and I truly believe that this project can serve as a blueprint for our entire county's journey towards improved sustainability."

The USDA's cooperative agreements, which are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, are part of the USDA's broad support for urban agriculture. Avondale Estates was awarded one of only 38 cooperative agreements nationwide to support innovative, scalable waste management plans to reduce and divert food waste from landfills.

Work on the program including signing up residential participants will begin in June with anticipated curbside collection starting late summer.

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