Metro Waste Services engaged 750 households to help us learn how we can keep food scraps out of the trash in Metro Nashville's first ever Food Scraps Pickup Pilot program. Launched in October 2023, each household collected their food scraps and placed them at the curb each week for one year to turn them into compost.
The Nashville Department of Waste Services has been able to secure funding beyond the pilot's initial year while we work to complete a feasibility study for service area-wide implementation.
Note that we are not accepting any new participants until a broader implementation is developed.
How Food Scraps Pickup Pilot Works
- Collect your food scraps: Collect food scraps and other compostable products throughout the week.
- Take it to the curb: Place compostable materials in your curbside bin. Compost Nashville picks up your curbside bin each week.
- Reduce your waste to landfill: Your scraps will go to a local facility to be turned into a nutrient rich compost that improves local soils.
- Share your experience: Let us know how it went!
Why Pick Up Food Scraps
Composting is simply healthier for the planet than landfilling. When landfilled, wasted food, food scraps, and other organic materials create methane gas, a powerful greenhouse gas that is 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Methane also accounts for about 20% of global emissions. Unlike landfilling, composting uses the natural decomposition process to return the nutrients in food and organic material back to the earth and create healthier soils.
By collecting food scraps for composting, instead of landfilling, we can:
- Reduce the production of methane gas in landfills
- Improve the health of middle Tennessee soils
- Reduce Nashville's reliance on landfills
Questions
If you have questions about the pilot or participant selection process, contact RecycleRight@Nashville.gov.