Princeton Expands Food Scraps Program With New Sites

PRINCETON, NJ – The Municipality’s Food Scraps Drop-Off Program is experiencing rapid growth, with three new collection sites established in March and 36 additional residents joining the initiative.

According to Assistant Municipal Engineer James Purcell's recent report to Princeton Council, the program now serves 321 participants.

New collection bins were installed on March 5 at locations adjacent to Riverside, Littlebrook, and Johnson Park Elementary Schools. These complement the original sites at the Municipal Building and Monument Hall.

The program now uses Metro store bins, which are touchless and lock automatically. They can be unlocked through a keypad or an app on the user’s smartphone.

“The program is now diverting over two tons of food waste from the landfill. Every month, we deliver it to Trenton Renewables, instead of sending it to the Mercer County Transfer station,” Purcell told Council. “Trenton Renewables takes the food waste, converts it through biogas for energy production and the remaining solids are used as a soil amendment for farming.”

The cost of processing food scraps at Trenton Renewables is $65 per ton. The Municipality saves around $70 per ton in disposal costs.

“I'm happy to report that we get a lot of positive feedback from the residents. The new collection bins are a big hit, and we'll wait a couple of months, and we hope to expand the program to 12 total sites in the municipality over the coming months,” Purcell said.

Partial funding for the program comes from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.

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