Title
Subscription Curbside Compost Service
PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND:
Purpose: To present a proposed non-exclusive municipal partnership with CompostNow to launch a town-wide, subscription-based curbside composting service.
Background: To achieve the Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan goal of reducing community greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030, the Town must aggressively target all emission sources, including solid waste emissions. While Carrboro’s public food waste drop-off sites are heavily utilized, curbside collection achieves significantly higher waste diversion and carbon reduction. However, current municipal and county budget constraints prevent public funding for a municipal curbside composting service.
This partnership would make Carrboro the first North Carolina community to offer a discounted subscription curbside composting service and would do so at no cost to the Town. Raleigh-based CompostNow, an experienced operator with over 15 years in business, nearly 100 full-time staff, and over 375 five-star reviews on Google, would fully manage operations. They would be responsible for customer service, billing, bin and bag distribution, curbside collection of compostables and transportation to a permitted composting facility. They would also track and report participation, diversion metrics and greenhouse gas emission reductions. The Town will support the service by collaborating on program outreach, education, and progress reporting, complementing existing Green Neighborhood Grants and Orange County’s public food waste drop-off sites.
Participation in the program will be voluntary and exclusively available to Carrboro residents, as well as community members within the annexed portion of the Town of Chapel Hill who receive solid waste collection services from the Town of Carrboro. While CompostNow’s standard doorstep collection normally costs $39 per month, Carrboro residents may opt-in to the curbside service at a 50% discounted rate of $19 per mo...
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