More people in Fort Worth are doing what’s right when it comes to the environment and making our green footprint larger than ever before. This means reducing waste, reusing items, recycling more and composting food waste.
Through the city’s Residential Food Waste Composting Program, residents can turn even more waste into resources instead of garbage by collecting food scraps to be processed into compost, a rich soil nutrient.
Most foods can be composted: fruits and vegetables, including peels and pits, bread and other baked goods, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, egg shells, cooked meats and bones and any table leftovers, to name a few.
The compost program, which launched in 2019, has recently added new locations, making a total of 15 collection sites. The new sites:
- Chisholm Trail Park, 4680 McPherson Blvd.
- Walsh Community Garden, 13749 Makers Way.
- Golden Triangle Library, 4264 Golden Triangle Blvd.
These additions make it more convenient for residents who live in the south, west and north of the city to drop off food waste. A new collection site is in the works for the east side of Fort Worth.
A one-time fee of $20 provides subscribers with a starter kit, which includes a kitchen countertop pail, a five-gallon transfer bucket, a refrigerator magnet and educational resources. Residents can also request a free, fun yard sign to help spread the word about the program to neighbors.
Since its launch in April 2019, the program has yielded impressive results. Nearly 1,700 households are subscribed, 162 tons of food scraps (more than 324,000 pounds) have been collected with a record-low 1% contamination rate.
Every pound of food composted is diverted from the landfill with benefits that include better air quality from reduced methane emissions, reduced need for chemical fertilizers and less water usage.
To learn more, contact Flavia Paulino by email or at 817-392-7220.
