An article recently posted through Waste Advantage Magazine’s Daily Newsletter by Eugenia Manwelyan explores an important question for municipalities looking to expand residential curbside organics collection: how can communities increase diversion without creating a significant financial burden?
As municipalities look for ways to divert more organic material from landfill, cost is often one of the first concerns. Adding another collection stream can seem like adding another expense, particularly for communities that already have established garbage and recycling programs. But the article highlights that the cost of an organics program can depend largely on how it is designed and incorporated into the existing waste system. By looking for efficiencies across collection services, routes, contracts, and participation, municipalities can help reduce or offset the costs associated with adding organics collection.
Looking at the Bigger Picture
Instead of treating organics as an additional service layered onto an existing program, municipalities can look for opportunities to improve efficiencies across garbage, recycling, and organics collection.
For example, adding an organics stream may create opportunities to reconsider how frequently other materials are collected. Collection routes can be reviewed and optimized, existing hauling contracts can be evaluated, and funding structures can be reconsidered. Even participation levels can have an impact, as higher participation can help spread program costs across more households.
The key is to look beyond the individual collection stream and consider how all three streams can work together as one system.
Planning Before Implementation
A successful organics program starts well before the first green bin hits the curb.
The article recommends beginning with an assessment of the municipality’s current solid waste system. Understanding existing collection services, contracts, routes, costs, and funding structures can help identify where efficiencies may already exist and where changes could be made.
From there, municipalities can use a pilot program to test the approach before moving to a full-scale rollout. A pilot provides an opportunity to understand the practical side of collection, build relationships with haulers and processing facilities, establish baseline data, and identify challenges before expanding the program.
The article also brings these strategies to life through examples from communities across the U.S., demonstrating how different approaches to collection, participation, contracts, and processing can influence the overall cost of an organics program.
Measuring factors such as participation, contamination, material collected, and cost can help municipalities understand what is working and where adjustments may be needed.
Participation Matters
Getting households to participate is another important piece of the equation.
A program that is available but rarely used may not deliver the diversion or cost efficiencies a municipality is looking for. Building awareness, making participation convenient, and providing clear communication and education can all help encourage residents to use the system correctly.
The article also highlights the difference participation models can make. Programs that make organics collection the standard expectation for households can help achieve higher participation than programs that rely entirely on residents to opt in.
This reinforces an important point: infrastructure and collection services are only part of the equation. How the program is designed and communicated can have a significant impact on its success.
Considering the Cost of Doing Nothing
While the upfront cost of implementing organics collection can be a concern, municipalities also have to consider the long-term cost of continuing to send organic material to landfill.
As disposal costs increase and landfill capacity becomes more limited, delaying organics diversion can have its own financial and environmental consequences. Looking at the broader picture allows municipalities to weigh the investment in diversion against the potential costs of maintaining the status quo.
The Takeaway
It’s not just about adding an organics stream. It’s about designing the entire system to work efficiently.
With thoughtful planning, municipalities can look for opportunities to make better use of existing infrastructure, collection services, contracts, and resources while expanding organics diversion.
For communities considering residential curbside organics collection, the article offers a valuable reminder that affordability doesn’t have to stand in the way of diversion. The right program design, supported by data, planning, participation, and ongoing evaluation, can help municipalities build a system that works both environmentally and operationally.
Read the full article from Waste Advantage Magazine: Affordable by Design: Residential Curbside Organics Collection Without Breaking the Bank.
