CARY, N.C. – Many municipalities in North Carolina have composting programs in place for yard waste, but the Town of Cary has gone one step further to include a permanent food scrap collection program. 

One year ago, the town created the program with the goal of collecting 16 tons of food scraps - waste that otherwise would’ve gone to a landfill. In that time, the pilot program exceeded goals by more than 150%, now earning it a permanent spot in the community. 

A look inside the compost bins at food waste items that have been dropped off (Rachel Boyd/Spectrum News 1)

“Hearing from our Cary citizens, we know that they want to be more involved in composting opportunities. We know that they are passionate about reducing carbon emissions, we know that they care about the longevity of our landfills and the amount of space even that a landfill takes up,” Alyssa Campo Bowman, environmental manager for the Town of Cary, said.

This program started as a result of a trash analysis by Wake County that revealed 27% of municipal waste going into landfills was food waste.

When the program was first introduced, Bowman said people had to adjust to what items were accepted. Unlike recycling, where things like pizza boxes and grease can contaminate the collection, compost can take any type of food scraps and leftovers, even including raw meat and bones. Other items that can also be dropped off include paper plates and napkins, along with coffee filters and teabags. However, Styrofoam, metal cans, plastic bags and any liquids are prohibited. 

“If it grows, it goes,” Bowman said. “We want anything that is food-based, plant-based materials. Grass clippings, dead flowers, fruit scraps. All of that is good. And we have an additional benefit with this particular drop off in that we can accept meats, bones, cheeses.”

Alyssa Campo Bowman sifts through newly created compost at Good Hope Farm (Rachel Boyd/Spectrum News 1)

In the past 12 months they collected 40 tons of food waste, which created 80,000 pounds of compost. Their partnership with Compost Now allows 10% of that to return directly to the Cary community at Good Hope Farm where the compost is put to use growing vegetables and other crops.

“We can have significant impacts on reducing carbon emissions by reducing methane,” Bowman said. “We can have those materials actually composted and put back into the soil where it benefits plants and people and farmers, and regenerating soils has multiple benefits, like actually helping stormwater and rainwater infiltration."

People can drop off their items at the compost bins located at Cary’s Citizens Convenience Center. The Town of Cary also offers classes and workshops on composting and how to use it at home.

The drop-off location is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“This is a really fantastic opportunity to take something that would otherwise be trash and actually make it into something that's valuable,” Bowman said. “There's something that's really special that really closes that loop as we try to move to lessening our waste and lessening the impact that we're having on this world.”