BOISE, Idaho — The City of Boise launched a new pilot program that lets people who live in apartments or multi-family housing participate in the City's compost program. There are now two food scrap drop-off sites where people can register online and drop off their food waste for free.
- The two pilot program drop-off sites are located at Fort Boise Park and Comba Park.
- You can find more information on how to register for the program here.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"One in five households in Boise is multi-family or is multi-family housing and they don't have access to our Curbside Compost Program," said Lisa Knapp, the Compost Program Lead for the City of Boise.
"We really wanted to address that issue and make sure that composting is something that is available for everyone," said Knapp.
She tells me that their residential curbside compost program has been largely successful, keeping thousands of pounds of food waste out of the local landfill, with an impressive 97% of registered households participating.
But, curbside compost hasn't been an option for residents like Kyle Halat, who lives in an apartment complex, until now.
"I think it's a pretty cool idea, there's a lot of food scraps that do get wasted out there that could easily be composted," Halat told me.
He tells me he's composted in the past but hasn't been able to in his current apartment.
He was excited to see the City's flier on his door.
"I just got the pamphlet not too long ago and they just put these wonderful boxes out so, I am definitely interested in continuing that," added Halat.
Here's how it works:
The City set up two compost drop-off locations, at Fort Boise Park and Comba Park, as part of their year-long pilot program, where people like Kyle can register online and drop off their food scraps for free.
The City takes it from there, turning those eggshells and orange peels into this.
"Thus far we have a little over 40 households registered," said Knapp.
She tells me an analysis in 2021 showed that 25% of trash from multi-family homes was food waste, leading to long-term problems at the landfill.
"Five pounds of food waste releases the same equivalent greenhouse gas emissions as driving our car and burning one gallon of gasoline. So, when we think about individual actions and things that we can actually do to fight climate change, you could reduce your driving by 25 miles or you could bring your week of food scraps here to one of these sites," explained Knapp.
