BioCycle contracted with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) to better understand the state of residential food waste collection programs throughout the U.S, according to a BioCycle report. The report, which only included programs offered through local governments, did not factor in private haulers offering subscription services independent of the government. The resulting data, which was collected from collection programs from June to November, was compiled in the 2017 BioCycle Residential Food Waste Collection Access Study.
The report showed that the number of curbside collection programs has grown from 79 in 2014 to 148 in 2017—an 87 percent increase. The number of communities with households that have access to food waste collection has also increased from 198 to 326 over the same period, a 65 percent increase. This equates to a total of 5.1 million households with access to such waste programs, which is up by 2.4 million from the 2014 study.
The companies’ curbside collection services were classified as “standard offering,” “opt-in” or “mandatory.” Of the 77 respondents to this question, 47 identified as standard, 21 identified as opt-in and eight identified as mandatory. Standard services were defined as those programs where organics are collected along with trash and recycling with no action required from residents, opt-in services were defined as those that required residents to sign up for the service, and mandatory services were those where residents were required to participate.
This year’s study also examined what types of materials these collection services were picking up. All 148 programs surveyed accept fruit and vegetable scraps; more than 90 percent accept meat, fish and dairy products; and the majority take paper bags and uncoated food-soiled paper products. Materials such as plastics, molded fiber containers and food-soiled paper were less common collection items.