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Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) Cooperative Agreements

USDA Announces Cooperative Agreements for Compost and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR)

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Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) cooperative agreements assist local and municipal governments with projects that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans. Implementation activities will increase access to compost for agricultural producers, improve soil quality and encourages innovative, scalable waste management plans that reduce and divert food waste from landfills.

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2021 Projects
2020 Projects

Resources

Stories

Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) Success Stories

Douglas County, Oregon

Douglas County, Oregon and Source One Serenity, a non-profit group working to empower veterans, has a lot to celebrate this Veteran’s Day. With their CFWR-funded vermicomposting project, the organization is working to divert hundreds of tons of food waste utilizing their newly developed worm farm. Maintained by veterans, the social enterprise supports those living with post-traumatic stress disorder by providing both economic and therapeutic opportunities. Funding that is raised from the sale of the final product, worm castings, are used to sustain the healing outdoor experiences Source One Serenity regularly provides for veterans. The castings make their way to local farmers and gardeners while the local VA Medical Center, food bank, and other businesses can sustainably dispose uneaten food and byproducts. Creating job opportunities, assisting veterans, and regenerating the soil; this project is working to foster a circular economy that works for people and the planet. To learn more about their story, please view the Worm Farm Aims to Recycle while Helping Veterans page.

People inside a large tent

Yakutat Tlingit Tribe, Alaska

The Yakutat Tlingit Tribe (YTT) is located in the southeast Alaskan panhandle. This area of the state is rural and remote, and the Tribe is active in protecting local food security, community health and the environment. Through CFWR, the YTT is developing a community compost program that will serve two purposes: 1) provide compost to local producers to help address the acidic soil conditions of the area and 2) divert food from the local landfill which is nearing capacity. Through this project, YTT will host workshops to build local skills in composting and food preservation methods to help address food waste. The workshops will also introduce the concept of cottage industry sales to encourage community members to explore other economic opportunities. For more information on the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe, please view the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe Environmental page.

Cooperative Agreements News

2022 Projects

This is a complete list of 2022 urban agricultural cooperative agreement recipients and their project summaries.

2022 Projects
Organization Name State/Territory Project Name Project Description
City of Ishpeming Michigan The Ishpeming Waste Diversion and Soil Rebuilding Initiative The project will create a central composting facility within Marquette County that will benefit Ishpeming residents, institutions, and businesses throughout the county.
City of East Point Georgia The City of East Point Closed Loop Food Waste Drop Off and Finished Compost Return for BIPOC Farmer/Gardener Prosperity Pilot Program Through this pilot program the City of East Point will establish a community food waste drop-off program for residents to divert food scraps. The food waste will be turned into compost to be used by underserved farmers and gardeners.
City of Greenbelt Maryland Closing the Loop in Greenbelt The project will increase food waste recycling and processing in a more localized manner that will make the diversion of food waste from landfills more efficient, both environmentally and economically.
Tucson Unified School District Arizona Tucson Unified School District Community Composting & Food Waste Reduction Pilot Project The project will build the infrastructure needed to provide compost to school and community gardens, improve soil quality, reduce food waste, and demonstrate the economic benefits of including food reclamation education as an integral part of school garden and nutrition programs for students, their families and the communities of Tucson and Pima County, Arizona
County of San Miguel Colorado Comprehensive Compost and Food Waste Reduction Project - San Miguel County The project will 1) establish and enhance the physical and social infrastructure for regional composting and food waste reduction 2) enhance and expand a sustainable economic framework to facilitate agricultural compost use, and 3) create a replicable model that addresses specific barriers encountered by rural and mountain towns and beyond.
City of Springfield Missouri Dish to Dirt: Food Scraps Drop-Off The project will build upon established systems, functionality, and lessons learned to pilot a food waste drop off and composting program for citizens throughout Springfield, Missouri.
City of Glenwood Springs Colorado The City of Glenwood Springs' Commercial Composting Expansion & Education Pilot program The project will fund a new compost pad, educational programming to boost participation among area businesses, and create promotional materials to advertise sustainability efforts.
Prince George's County Government Maryland Prince George's County School Pilot Compost Program The project will institutionalize separate food waste disposal and collection at public schools in Prince George’s County in support of the operations of the County’s organic compost facility.
County of Teton Wyoming Teton County ISWR's Commercial Curb to Compost Expansion Pilot Program The project will remove 500 tons of food waste annually from the waste stream by February of 2025, moving Teton County closer to its goal for 60% diversion of all waste from the Teton County Landfill.
Montgomery County Maryland Edible Food Recovery Program in Montgomery County, Maryland The project will measure, track, and report on the amount of edible food recovery potential and the amount that is recovered each year, and determine the fiscal and economic impact to achieve an edible food recovery mandate.
City of Los Angeles California Los Angeles International Airport On-Site Composting and Food Waste Reduction Program The LAX On-site Composting & Food Waste Reduction Pilot Program (LAX CFWR) is centered on the goal of the implementation of a closed loop on-site composting solution that would integrate collection and processing of all organic waste generated at LAX in collaboration with airport partners and the local community.
City of Deerfield Beach Florida City of Deerfield Beach Composting and Food Waste Reduction Pilot Program The project will explore the effectiveness and viability of a municipal organics collection and compost giveback program in Deerfield Beach while engaging underprivileged communities in food security, gardening and composting.
City of Traverse City Michigan Piloting Municipal Food Waste Collection and Composting in Traverse City, Michigan The project will firmly establish a sustaining regional example of effective food waste diversion and compost production through a pilot project working within Traverse City’s Department of Public Services.
City of Knoxville Tennessee The Knoxville Compost Project: A Multi-Scale Community Composting Program The Knoxville Compost Project is a comprehensive, multi-scale community composting program for residents, businesses, and nonprofits in Knoxville. The project will provide outlets, supplies, education, and most importantly ongoing support for three different scales of composting.
Seneca Nation of Indians New York Gotgweonyo: Community is the People's Garden The project wiil redirect food and water waste from landfills/sewage to be utilized by Gotgweonyo Farms as organic fertilizer.
Town of Edmonston Maryland Edmonston, Maryland: Achieving Near-Zero Waste and Quality Compost for Underserved Farmers This project will initiate a food scrap collection pilot project in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The project will strengthen and expand on-farm composting capability in the county, and decrease the volume of food scraps in landfills. It will also provide an example of a small-scale and manageable “Compost Outpost” that will produce food-production quality compost.
Town of Geneva New York Geneva Compost and Food Waste Diversion The project will involve a variety of partners to improve the environmental justice profile of Geneva through diverting food waste and other biodegradables from the waste stream, generating nutrient-rich compost, improving soil quality, reducing reliance on fertilizers, and engaging in food recovery efforts that take “extra” food and gets it into the hands of community members in need.
City of Boston Massachusetts FY 2022 Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) Pilot Project The project will secure a permitted site in the City of Boston with the capacity to take all of the city’s food scraps and soiled paper. Planning activities include selecting the preferred food waste recycling technology, completing the local zoning approval process, and obtaining state building and public health permits.
County of Eau Claire Wisconsin Eau Claire County Comprehensive Food Waste Reduction Pilot The project seeks to reduce food waste entering the landfill by expanding composting and food salvaging opportunities in order to extend the life of the landfill, improve the quality of local soil, and increase food security. This goal will be achieved through initiatives in public education, waste diversion in schools, residential composting, and supplying compost to the community.
City of Alexandria Virginia City of Alexandria Subsidized Curbside Food Waste Composting Pilot The pilot project will support opt-in Subsidized Curbside Food Waste Composting in the city.
Housatonic Resource Recovery Connecticut Demonstrating Sustainable Material Management of Food Waste and Yard Debris through Municipal On- Site Composting. The project will demonstrate that municipalities can create a closed loop sustainable composting system to manage food waste locally, reducing the carbon footprint of offsite disposal and contributing to the waste diversion goals of the state. This project will increase access to compost for residential, community garden groups and local farmers without relying on synthetic fertilizers and empower municipalities to use readily available compost for stormwater management and soil erosion.
Town of Newton New Jersey Newton Composting Project The project will establish the new Newton Composting Program which will provide food waste collection opportunities that will generate compost that will be utilized throughout the community. The Newton Composting Program will include a collaborative effort between the Town, public school system, a community college, residents, a nonprofit organization, and a local business to collect and generate food waste into compost.
City of Frisco Texas Multi-Tiered Residential Composting Pilot Project; City of Frisco The project will implement a community compost demonstration project to support households that do not have the resources (funds, space, or knowledge) to compost. For those with an interest in composting at home, this project will support those folks with technical assistance and supplying supplemental wood chips for a healthy compost pile.
County of Hernando Florida Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) Pilot Project The project will produce compost to aid local soils in the retention of moisture and nutrients, make the compost available to local agricultural producers, and simultaneously reduce the amount of material landfilled annually.
School Board of Orange County Florida Florida Orange County Public Schools: Food Recovery and Compost Pilot The project will implement a food recovery and food compost program to reduce landfill waste by 40% through food recovery and a food composting program to illustrate the need for these programs and how these programs can be adopted district-wide following a two-year food recovery and composting program.
Louisville and Jefferson County Metropilitan Sewer District Kentucky Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District Composting Regional Pilot Program The project will create grade A compost that will be available to the region at no cost. Regionally produced compost will assist urban farmers and gardeners in growing nutrient rich food in an urban food desert, reduce need for imported fertilizers, save utility fleet gasoline by reducing the quantity of trips to regional landfill sites, reduce the cost of landfill disposal for utilities, and provide compost to community gardens which benefit residents who are disproportionally impoverished and lack access to healthy, fresh foods.
City and County of Honolulu Hawaii Planning and implementation of food waste reduction and expansion of composting in the Windward Oahu Community by
developing onsite, school based composting and curriculum.		 The project will develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans through the expansion of composting and food reduction practices in Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE). This project will capitalize on the state’s largest source of preventable food waste (HIDOE) and further develop the educational component of on-site, school-based composting curriculum.
City of Baltimore Maryland Baltimore Comprehensive Composting Pilot The project will increase Baltimore City residents’ and communities’ access to composting and food waste reduction opportunities by removing longstanding educational, social, and economic barriers. They will host composting workshops, expand food scrap drop-off sites, and partner with food rescue organizations.
City of Kansas City Missouri The Kansas City Neighborhood Compost Program will decrease the amount of food waste entering Kansas City landfills. This project will create 1,000 new composters in the first year and will reduce waste taken to landfills by 1% in its first 24 months.
Village of Egg Harbor Wisconsin Village of Egg Harbor County-wide Compost Initiative This project will help the village improve infrastructure and systems to grow its compost program to serve communities throughout the peninsula including one of the central schools, a number of the restaurants, and residents. In addition, this grant partners with area for profit and nonprofit businesses to create a network that connects residents to farmers.
City of Frederick Maryland Frederick Residential Compost Pilot Expansion project This project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase organics recovery, reduce reusable materials going to landfill, support local businesses, generate finished compost for local use, and reduce costs associated with transportation of the material.
County of Sonoma California Accelerating and Scaling Carbon Sequestration and Food Recovery in Sonoma County The project will expand existing collaborations with Zero Foodprint (ZFP) to scale, coordinate, and optimize scaling carbon sequestration projects in coordination with SB1383 implementation strategy, including the expected increase of 10,000 tons of compost created per year. It will increase access to compost for agricultural producers, reduce reliance on fertilizer, improve soil quality, increase rainwater absorption, reduce municipal food waste, decrease food insecurity, and engage businesses in zero waste and circular economy.
City of Decorah Iowa Decorah Community Compost and Food Waste Diversion Pilot Project This comprehensive community composting pilot project will include collaborating with local and regional partners to achieve the over-arching goal of increasing the amount of residential and commercial food waste that is diverted away from the Winneshiek County Landfill.
New Hanover County North Carolina Garbage to Gardens: Growing Composting Capacity and Waste Diversion in New Hanover County This project will hire full-time personnel to expand upon its existing work Friends of the New Hanover County Arboretum to manage the Garbage to Gardens program in public school lunchroom food waste diversion, growing the program from two schools to sixteen. Data will be collected to perform a cost benefit analysis to determine the savings realized from implementing food waste diversion strategies.
City of Grand Junction Colorado Grand Junction Organic Waste Diversion and Compost Utilization Program This project will demonstrate the need for food waste processing at the local compost facility by establishing an organic waste collection route with a temporary composting outlet that is within 100 miles of the County, the program will create the density and demand needed to show the economic benefits of accepting more materials at the local facility.
Village of Broadview Illinois The C4 (Cross Community Climate Collaborative) Composting Initiative This project is designed to support three BIPOC and low-to-moderate (LMI) communities in West Cook County, Illinois through establishing residential curbside food scrap diversion programs. It will also integrate the initiative within the Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) Zero Waste Schools program which will incorporate food scrap diversion systems within schools and establish food recovery protocols toward significantly reducing food waste and returning finished compost back into the communities for use in school and community gardens and landscaping.
City of Leavenworth Washington The City of Leavenworth Food Waste Reduction Pilot Project This project focuses on waste ‘recovery’ through commercial composting. Other aspects of food waste reduction will be addressed through outreach efforts and community partnerships. There are two primary tasks -- education/outreach (in partnership with Waste Loop nonprofit) and the collection/hauling of organic waste (in partnership with Winton Manufacturing, Compost Works). The target population of the project is the greater Leavenworth community, encompassing the geographic area of the Cascade School District which includes the cities of Leavenworth, Plain & Peshastin.
City of Clarksburg West Virginia City of Clarksburg LET IT GROW! Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction This project sustains the current municipal compost service and expand agricultural community engagement through educational opportunities for residents, community gardens, and community groups. In partnership with West Virginia University Extension, new compost and food waste reduction practices will be introduced to the residents of Clarksburg through a seminar series on composting and master gardening in addition to the dissemination of compost bins and pails.
Miami-Dade County Florida Miami-Dade County 2022 Composting and Food Waste Reductiob (CFWR) Pilot Project This pilot project will jump start a circular economy for food waste that aims to accelerate and scale the services of three small locally owned composting companies. It will expand existing service capacity by 50% over one year, obtain a renewable 18-month pilot project permit, and develop a commercially viable compost product that can be used by MDC’s Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces Department to create a circular economy for food waste and compost in MDC that will reduce landfill food waste and replace chemical fertilizer.
Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Alaska Tlingit and Haida Compost Pilot Project This project's pilot composting program will operate in conjunction with the Tribe's newly constructed Taay Hít Greenhouse in Juneau that is already generating fresh produce for its tribal citizens. The integrated composting and greenhouse program design is supported by Tlingit & Haida's Climate Change Adaptation Plan and Climate Change Action Plan which identify food security as community greenhouse projects as priorities. Tlingit & Haida first incorporated agricultural science into greenhouse operation by using the best growing practices to maximize sustainable food production and recently completed our first harvest from the Taay Hít Greenhouse, serving community elders a curry soup featuring bok choi, kale and cilantro.
Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District Alaska Interior Alaska Food Waste Reduction and Education Initiative The project supports a free backyard composting program, distribution of educational materials, and various workshops that appeals to any compost beginners, especially students. The project includes compost lessons in afterschool programs at Title 1 schools and a compost tea project in partnership with the Silent Springs FFA.
City of Atlanta Georgia Aglanta's Collaborative Model for Scalable Community Composting The project provides publicly accessible community-compost education & training led by national and local community-compost leaders. An Atlanta Community Composting Plan will be created to introduce innovative solutions that incorporate participation from industries such as restaurant & hospitality and other businesses. Existing local community-based composting will be enhanced by increasing compost production and carbon sequestration on farm, community garden, and neighborhood scale food production sites and strengthen operations of the Truly Living Well Community Composting Lab, a regional EPA & ILSR supported farm-scale operation focused on engaging, educating and employing the local community in compost operations.
Municipality of Isabela Puerto Rico Recycling Facility in the Municipality of Isabela The project integrates an online and practical educational program consisting of courses and workshops addressing reducing waste, recycling, the fundamental principles of permaculture, food preservation, and community composting for a healthier planet. Through the implementation of this project, the Municipality will continue taking the necessary steps to reestablish the operation of its landfill and benefit from resulting cost savings.
Haverford Township Pennsylvania Haverford Township Compost and Food Waste Reduction Pilot Project This project plans for a township-wide opt-in curbside composting waste stream as part of municipal trash collection that requires both educational and technical assistance. Residential and municipal food waste will be diverted from destructive waste by partnering with established curbside compost pick-up servicers. A local commercial industrial composting facility with an established business model will supply compost to agricultural producers, schools, community gardeners, and community members.
City of Providence Rhode Island Moving Towards Zero Waste: Expanding Food Waste Diversion and Composting in Providence, RI The project will subsidize training and supplies for backyard composting, developing a public education campaign focused on the benefits of food waste diversion and that drives participation in locally available food waste diversion services (e.g. drop-off locations, collection services), supporting training at and development of new food waste drop off sites, implementing food waste diversion programs in four public school cafeterias, and implementing a food waste diversion program at Bucklin Prep Kitchen. The project targets city residents, public schools, and Bucklin Kitchen, the school district’s meal prep site and will divert food waste from the landfill annually.

2021 Projects

This is a complete list of 2021 urban agricultural cooperative agreement recipients and their project summaries.

2021 Projects

Organization Name

State

Project Name

Project Description
City of Richmond Virginia Richmond Compost Initiative The City of Richmond will establish a network of food scrap drop-off stations in collaboration with community gardens, libraries, businesses, and community organizations. These organizations will provide space to house containers where the public can contribute their food waste to this project, which will create compost for community gardens, community-led greening initiatives, and Workforce Training and Development landscaping projects in parks. Compost will be collected from sites on a weekly basis and brought to a central composting site in partnership with Parks’ Workforce Training and Development as well as the Department of Public Works.
City of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Food Scrap Composting Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) is in the process of launching the first of an envisioned coordinated system of small-scale urban food waste composting sites on city properties. A Sustainability Specialist will be responsible for directly overseeing the data collection and analysis, education and outreach, quality control and reporting for PPR’s food scrap composting program. This position will enable the food scrap composting program to achieve and sustain quality operation and to grow in subsequent years.
City and County of Honolulu Hawaii Honolulu Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Pilot Project Collaboration between the City and County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change Sustainability and Resiliency, the Department of Environmental Services, Aloha Harvest, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Zero Waste Oahu, and Supersistence consulting firm - as well as Chinatown businesses and agriculture and garden compost recipients to target the concentrated small food establishments in Chinatown, an area which has long struggled to address food waste as a well-recognized priority problem identified in community plans, and businesses that are not required to comply with local food waste laws.
City of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania The Compost Commodity: Pittsburgh's Urban Agricultural Solutions for Managing Organic Waste This project will identify a scalable solution to organic composting for internal city operations and test a multi-level alternative approach to curb-side composting as a method to handling residential organic waste and building soil that fortifies current networks of urban agriculture, community composting, and food waste processing businesses, rather than undercutting them.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Alaska Kenai Peninsula Borough Community Compost & Food Waste Recovery Program Kenai Peninsula Borough will partner with Kenai Local Food Connection to expand and model for replication the Community Compost project which solicited interested residents and businesses to segregate compostable food waste for pickup and delivery to a composting site.
Blue Lake Rancheria, California California USDA Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction at Blue Lake Rancheria's Daluviwi' Community Garden This project will increase the quantity of waste diverted from landfills by adding Powers Creek Brewery and Honeycomb Coffee to the compost collection route. Compost produced will be used to amend the soil in Daluviwi’ Community Garden and provided for the community garden members and any tribal elders who request a compost delivery to amend their home gardens.
City of Stamford Connecticut Stamford's Public/Private Composting Program The City of Stamford will establish a unique private-public partnership with the Stamford Museum & Nature Center to operate and manage a Composting Machine that is capable of processing 500lbs of food waste and turning it into useable compost which will reduce the amount of garbage the City of Stamford brings to landfills.
City of Fort worth Texas Expansion of the City of Fort Worth Residential Food Scraps Composting Pilot Program This project will expand the City of Fort Worth Residential Food Scraps Composting Pilot Program's infrastructure allowing the City to reach more residents, increase subscription numbers, and consequently increase the tonnage of food waste collected yearly and composted through the program. In addition, compost will be made more accessible to agricultural producers and community gardens by connecting producers of food waste and end users of organic material.
City of Troy New York From the Ground Up: Troy's Environmental Stewardship Initiative The City of Troy will collaborate with the Town of Bethlehem and local business, FoodScraps360, to gradually introduce food waste reduction practices to the residents of Troy. This project will actively engage residents through education and outreach efforts to achieve successful food waste reduction and recovery by addressing the components of the Sustainability Venn Diagram: Community, Environment, and Economy.
City of Winterville Georgia The Marigold Composting and Food Recovery Systems: A Zero-Waste Food Initiative The City of Winterville will build six composting stalls to collect and process food excess and refuse from producers and local community members. Compost will be free to the producers who participate in the Marigold Market, Food Hub, and Commercial Kitchen (the Marigold Collective) as well as the Winterville Community Garden and other area residents.
County of Mariposa California Expansion of Mariposa County's Food Waste and Organics Collection and Composting Activity Along the HWY140 Corridor This project will enable Mariposa County Solid Waste and Recycling (MSWR) to utilize the full capacity of their existing In-Vessel Composting System to generate composted materials, increase access of agricultural producers to composted material, reduce municipal food waste, divert food waste from landfills.
Douglas County Oregon Food Waste Reduction through Vermicomposting This project will divert hundreds of tons of food waste from the landfill annually and be the first organics collection and processing program of its kind in Douglas County, Oregon. The manufactured product worm castings will be provided for local agriculture and individual gardeners. Restaurants and other organizations will benefit by diverting their food waste out of the landfill, and Douglas County in collaboration with a local non-profit Source One Serenity will showcase innovative approaches for environmental stewardship in a rural area with limited resources.
City of Los Angeles California Farmers Market Food Waste Drop-Off and Community Composting Program The City of Los Angeles in collaboration with L.A. Sanitation and Environment and L.A. Compost and Kiss the Ground will be establishing a Farmers Market Food Waste Drop-off and Community Composting Program to collect food waste across 14 of LA’s 15 council districts. Food waste collection points will be established at community gardens, churches, parks and farmer’s markets, which will divert a significant amount of organic waste directly from households to local composting facilities.
City of Dickinson North Dakota City of Dickinson Backyard Buckets Composting Pilot The City of Dickinson will educate the public on proper soil amendment and soil health to help improve soils in the area while reducing organic waste going to the landfill. This project will provide a series of educational workshops and supplies to participants for composting their food scraps. Bins made from reused pallets will be available premade or for construction.
Guadalupe - Coyote Resource Conservation District California San Jose Community Compost Network This project will create a system of community-supported composting sites to intake organic waste and produce carbon-rich soil amendments which will increase access to finished compost for urban gardeners in underserved communities, locally-based food waste management solutions, community building opportunities, strengthen climate resilience from reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and improve soil health.
City of West Haven Connecticut Regional Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Project The City of West Haven will partner with the local Council of Governments and Center for Eco-Technology to train West Haven and regional school administrators from three participating urban schools and one commissary kitchen in how and why to separate compostable organic waste from the schools. Further, the City will retain a commercial collection contractor to provide collection containers and collection services
Housatonic Resource Recovery Connecticut HRRA Municipal Composting Initiative This project will demonstrate that municipalities can create a closed loop sustainable composting system to manage food waste locally, reducing the carbon footprint of offsite disposal and contributing to the waste diversion goals of the state, increase access to compost for residential, community garden groups and local farmers without relying on synthetic fertilizersm and empower municipalities to use readily available compost for stormwater management and soil erosion.
City of Cincinnati Ohio Cincinnati Community Composting Collaborative This project will develop multiple small and medium scale (<500 sq/ft) decentralized community composting and food waste drop off sites across the City, utilizing city facilities, community gardens/orchards, and existing compost businesses/non-profit partners to collect vegetative food scraps and create compost to be utilized at multiple urban agriculture sites throughout the City and beyond.
City of Tampa Florida Citywide Composting Pilot Program The City of Tampa will partner with Suncoast Compost to double the number of designated drop-off composting sites from four to eight which will create composting opportunities for all residents regardless of whether they live in multi-family units or single-family homes.
City of Madison Wisconsin Support for a City of Madison Community Food Waste Reduction Initiative through Community Composting & Commercial Food Waste & Food Recovery Programming This project will accelerate food waste reduction and meet the City goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030 through a community composting initiative and a commercial food waste initiative with restaurants, which both take a multi-sector approach and accelerate economic benefits to community farmers and commercial business owners.
City of Upper Arlington Ohio City of Upper Arlington, Curbside Food Waste Collection Pilot The City of Upper Arlington will partner with GoZERO Services to pilot a weekly, curbside collection program for up to 500 households. Collected food waste material will be transported to the industrial compost facility where it is processed and sold back to local farmers and gardeners. GoZERO Services will provide the compost material to the City’s Parks & Forestry Division for inclusion in the city’s various parks, rain gardens, honeybee & butterfly habitats and during seasonal tree planting
City of Dallas Texas Dallas Commercial Compost & Special Events Pilot Project This project will reduce food waste and simultaneously provide compost to local community gardens. The compost produced will be made available and easily accessible to qualifying gardens through DCHHS’s Community Gardens Program.
Yakutat Tlingit Tribe Alaska Yakutat Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction project The Yakutat Tlingit Tribe will provide a food scrap collection service and use the food scraps to create compost by using an in-vessel composter which has the capacity to process up to 1,100lbs of food waste on a weekly basis. YTT will develop a distribution system for a local market greenhouse and community gardeners to receive the finished compost and host several workshops to build the skills of community members to reduce wasted food and to create their own compost.
City of Phoenix Arizona Food Waste Pilot Program in Phoenix Multi-Family Complexes This project will roll out composting to two selected multi-family complexes and offer a learning opportunity for how to successfully market and educate residents on composting correctly.

2020 Projects

This is a complete list of 2020 urban agricultural cooperative agreement recipients and their project summaries.

2020 Projects

Organization Name

State

Project Name

Project Description

City of Prescott

Arizona

Prescott Community Compost Program

The city will collaborate with the Prescott Farmers Market, volunteers, restaurants, Yavapai County Cooperative Extension, and Prescott College to design, build and implement the Prescott Community Compost Program. The program will educate the community about composting, reduce food waste by collecting and composting restaurant food scraps, and provide high-quality compost to gardeners and farmers in Central Yavapai County. The program anticipates 28 tons of finished compost over the two-year program.

City of New Haven

Connecticut

New Haven Community Composting Collaborative

The project will bring together local organizations to expand community composting and growing local food. Goals include reducing food waste; generating high-quality compost to support urban agriculture and gardening in New Haven, and convening a Community Composting Collaborative to explore scaling up food waste composting.

Boulder County

Colorado

Restore Colorado: A Table to Farm Movement

Boulder County and collaborating nonprofits Mad Agriculture (Mad Ag) and Zero Foodprint will create a more circular food economy in which restaurants and consumers provide funding to incentivize healthy soil and conservation practices. Under the “Restore Colorado” campaign, restaurants will be invited to collect an additional 1% fee from customer bills to fund regenerative farm projects.

Douglas County

Kansas

Partnerships for Food Resource Recovery

The City of Lawrence Municipal Services & Operations will partner with Just Food on a food waste collection pilot to incorporate into its yard waste compost facility; establish a farm gleaning program to provide produce to clients of Just Food, Lawrence Community Shelter, and Sunrise Project; and encourage farmer and gardener access to the composting facility.

City of New York

New York

DSNY-BRS Big Reuse Compost Drop-Offs, Processing, Distribution

DSNY will collaborate with nonprofit composting organization Big Reuse to establish 20 food scrap drop-off locations at community gardens, libraries, residential buildings, and nonprofits near their compost sites. NYC Parks Department will divert wood chips and leaves from landfill disposal. GreenThumb, Brooklyn Grange, Hellgate Farms, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, and other urban farms will distribute compost for food production in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. The project anticipates diverting 600,000 pounds of food scraps and green waste from landfills and providing 350 cubic yards of compost to food producers.

City of Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

City of Philadelphia Cross-Sector Food Waste Diversion

The project will bolster the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation’s Community Compost Network and will pilot a Food Service Business Challenge, which will provide technical assistance to 10-15 businesses citywide to implement food waste reduction strategies.

Lake County

Illinois

Lake County Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Project

The project will develop a stronger, more vibrant circular economy for managing food scraps and other organic material. It includes a compost to farmland/community garden demonstration study, strengthening the community gardening network, market development for compost, and education efforts to increase participation rates in the commercial and residential sectors.

City of Fayetteville

Arkansas

Mobile Food Waste Collection and Compost Education Program City of Fayetteville, Arkansas

The project will support the purchase and development of a mobile Food Waste Recovery Trailer that will be transported to events and festivals to collect food waste and educate residents. The City will provide residents with 3.5-gallon food waste containers for the home, allowing waste to be dropped off at several sites. An extensive food waste composting educational program will include a full-time educator to provide information, instruction, and advice on theories and methods of organic composting.

Henderson County

North Carolina

Henderson County Organics Pilot Expansion

The project will improve local infrastructure by expanding the public compost facility, increasing the lunchroom composting program to six additional schools, and starting a residential discounted compost bin program.

City of Paterson

New Jersey

Paterson Grow Healthy - Composting Pilot

Project partners include the City of Paterson, the Paterson Public Schools, and the Rutgers University Cooperative Extension with support from the Center for EcoTechnology. This project will build on Extension’s environmental education within Paterson’s public schools. It seeks to increase composting by the students and staff of two public school buildings; eventually expanding to stakeholders, the entire school district, the City of Paterson, and local institutions that generate significant food waste.

Municipality of Anchorage

Alaska

Expanding on Success and Envisioning the Future of Organics Diversion in Anchorage, Alaska

The project includes a feasibility study and implementation plan for a municipal-scale composting operation at the Anchorage Regional Landfill, including an education campaign in partnership with the Alaska Food Policy Council, Alaska Waste, and Central Recycling Services. An additional 500 roll carts will be purchased with pick up service to increase composting.

Prince William County

Virginia

Prince William County Public Schools Food Waste Composting and Education Pilot

The Prince William County Department of Public Works Solid Waste Division (SWD) will work with project partners to implement a food waste composting pilot program for county schools and educate students on the environmental, economic, and social benefits of food waste composting.

City of Gainesville

Florida

Gainesville Pilot Composting Program

The project will implement a residential curbside food waste collection program, boost community composting efforts, and develop an overall local food waste strategy. Community outreach will include educational materials promoting the importance of food waste reduction, benefits of composting, and farm use of compost.