In July, Durham rolled out a program to tackle the issue. Now, Durham residents and City of Durham employees can deposit food scraps into designated bins 鈥� one at City Hall and another at the city鈥檚 Waste Disposal and Recycling Center on East Club Boulevard. Diverting food waste from landfills is a goal shared by municipalities and gardeners, as well as global environmental and scientific communities. All parties are concerned about the connections linking food waste, a warming planet and environmental and health problems.
Food waste buried in landfills breaks down in an oxygen-deprived environment, producing methane as a byproduct. In 2023, NC Policy Watch reported that the Sampson County Landfill where Durham 鈥� and dozens of other North Carolina municipalities send their waste 鈥� ranks No. 2 in the nation for methane emissions.
Wayne Fenton, the city鈥檚 Solid Waste Management director, has been working to prioritize聽 reducing the amount of food waste Durham sends to the Sampson County Landfill. In 2022, the city partnered with The Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University and launched a curbside food waste collection pilot program.
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Author: Will Atwater,聽North Carolina Health聽News