Bowie Announces Food Waste Collection Program

From The City of Bowie: Residents that live in the Victoria Heights, Yorktown, or Overbrook neighborhoods can sign up to be the first in the City to participate in a new food waste collection program. Food waste is uneaten food that is typically thrown in the trash and includes banana peels, apple cores, egg shells, coffee grounds, bones, etc. About 20% of all waste collected from households in Bowie is food waste. There is a lot of potential to reduce what goes to the landfill by turning food waste into compost, a material that is used to fertilize soil.

The Food Waste Collection Program is a voluntary 6-month pilot, and is free to participants. Each participating household will receive a small food scrap collection bin for their kitchen, a small curbside bin, and a set of 60 compostable bags from the City of Bowie Public Works Department. Food waste will be picked up on Wednesdays, starting on April 19th and ending around October 18th. Once collected, the food waste will be sent to the Prince George's County Organics Composting Facility to be mixed with yard waste in order to turn it into compost that is then sold to farmers and gardeners.

Encouraging composting is a goal in both the City’s Sustainability Plan and Climate Plan. There are many additional benefits to starting a food collection program including reducing methane emissions (a potent and harmful greenhouse gas) and saving money. It costs less money per ton to send food scraps to an Organics Composting Facility than to a landfill.

Residents interested in participating in this free pilot program should sign up at www.cityofbowie.org/foodwaste or by calling 301-809-3044 as soon as possible. The program is limited to the first 150 households. There will also be an information session on Thursday, March 30, 2017, from 7- 8 p.m. at the Kenhill Center.

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