Food Waste Pilot Program

• Bread, Pasta, Rice & Beans (e.g., stale bread, muffins, pizza crust, risotto, black beans, baked beans)
• Dairy & Nuts (e.g., cheese, eggs, eggshells, almonds, peanut shells, yogurt, mayonnaise, dips)
• Coffee & Tea (e.g., coffee grounds, coffee filters, tea leaves)
• Fruits & Vegetables (e.g., apples, carrots, lettuce, avocados, banana peels, potatoes, pickles, salsa)
• Processed Foods (e.g., candy, french fries, peanut butter, ramen)
• Food Waste Papers (e.g., paper napkins, paper plates, chemical-free paper towels, wooden popsicle sticks)

*Frozen, spoiled, or moldy foods also are accepted.

❌ No Meat, Fish or Bones

❌ No Glass, Plastic, Foam, Metal or Foil

❌ No Dryer or Vacuum Lint

❌ No Pet Food, Pet Waste or Cat Litter

❌ No Garbage or Trash

❌ No Diapers or Used Toilet Paper

❌ No Clothing or Textiles

❌ No Rocks, Sand, Dirt, Lumber or Logs

❌ No Pills or Medications

❌ No Chemical or Cleaning Wipes

❌ No Paper or "Plastic-like" Compostable To-Go Containers

❌ No Chewing Gum

Fruit stickers are a contaminant, so we recommend removing the fruit stickers even before peeling your fruit. This way, you’ll greatly reduce the chance of the plastic fruit sticker going into your yellow bucket and then ending up as a contaminant in the compost.

We’ve learned that tea bags are a little more troublesome than we initially thought. It turns out that in addition to contaminants such as strings, tags, and staples, many tea bags contain plastic in them (yes, even the paper ones!). Loose tea leaves are accepted, so if you can break open the tea bags, the tea leaves themselves can be composted.

No. To minimize the use of chemical cleaning agents after emptying out the buckets, we ask that residents NOT place this material in their yellow buckets.

Yes. Food Waste Paper such as used paper plates, paper towels, and paper napkins are accepted. No cleaning wipes or paper towels that were used with cleaning chemicals.

Other paper material that is accepted in the City’s recycling program (boxes, newspapers, office paper, etc.) should continue to be placed in your orange recycle bin.

For this compost program, it is preferred for participants NOT to place biodegradable “plastic-like” items in their yellow bucket. Products, such as forks or cups, marked as compostables and “planted-based” or made from plants are intended for industrial composting operations. The community composting method used in this program is not designed to decompose biodegradable “plastic-like” materials.

Non-coated paper plates, paper bowls, and paper cups are accepted in this program. Coated paper items and most “to-go” containers from restaurants are lined with plastic and are NOT compostable in this program.

A few flowers are okay, but for the purposes of this pilot program, food waste should NOT be combined with yard waste.

No. Although these items are compostable, meats are NOT accepted in this program.

No. For sanitary reasons and to protect the health of the collection personnel, this type of material is NOT accepted in this pilot program.

No. For sanitary reasons and to protect the health of the collection personnel, this type of material is NOT accepted in this pilot program.

Please continue to put your standard recyclable papers (cardboard, paperboard boxes, newspapers, office paper, etc.) in your orange recycle bin. Clean paper products are a valuable resource, and recycling them has a higher environmental benefit.

Food waste papers (food contaminated paper plates, napkins, paper towels, and popsicle sticks) are accepted in your yellow bucket. Cleaning wipes and paper towels with chemicals on them are NOT accepted in your yellow bucket.

Tuesdays. Your food waste collection day will always be on Tuesday, even during weeks with holidays. Should a national holiday fall on a Tuesday, we’ll send out notifications if there will be a change in your food waste collection day.

Yellow buckets should be set out curbside by 7 AM on Tuesdays.

Once per week on Tuesdays.

In most cases, we’d ask that you hold over your food waste for the following week’s collection. Beaten Path collection crews have limited availability and cannot return off-schedule to service the yellow buckets. However, please report missed collections to waste@gainesvillefl.us, so we can work with the collection crew to avoid any future collection problems (be sure to include your home address in your email).

Yes. Please set your yellow bucket out for collection every week. This will help keep your bucket clean by having it exchanged every week with an empty bucket. Also, maintaining a weekly collection will enable the collection crews to learn the route pickup locations quicker. If you only put your bucket for collection irregularly, the crews may forget to look for your container.

Funding for this pilot program is very limited, so we encourage program participants to take very good care of the yellow buckets and their kitchen compost pail. Collection service for this program is limited to one 5-gallon yellow bucket per week. If you do need replacement supplies (bucket, bucket lid, or kitchen pail), please contact the Solid Waste Division at waste@gainesvillefl.gov or at 352-334-2330.

There’s no getting around the fact that food waste will inevitably have a smell. Extreme odors are often caused by too much moisture in stored materials.

To minimize odors:

• Ensure you set your yellow bucket out for collection every week.
• Drain out as much liquid as possible from organic material before placing them in your kitchen pail or yellow bucket.
• Wrap food scraps in newspaper or place materials in a paper bag before putting it in your kitchen pail or yellow bucket
• Freeze leftover scraps in a reusable container and wait to put them in your yellow bucket until you are ready to set it out for collection.
• Wait to clean out your refrigerator until the day before your collection day, rather than the day after collection has occurred.
• Keep the lid closed and tightly pressed on your kitchen pail and yellow bucket when you are not adding in more food waste.
• If insects or pests become an issue, consider storing your yellow bucket off the ground.

• When preparing meals or cleaning up after a meal, scrape food and leftovers from your plate into your kitchen pail. You can even include your paper plates, paper towels, and paper napkins.
• Store your kitchen pail under or in the sink, or on the counter to make it easy to access while preparing food or cleaning up after a meal.
• Dump the contents of your kitchen pail into your yellow bucket at least once a week. Do NOT set your kitchen compost pail out curbside for collection.
• Drain out as much liquid as possible from food before putting them in your kitchen pail.
• Rinse out your pail after you empty it. It is the participant’s responsibility to clean their own kitchen pail. The kitchen pail is NOT dishwasher safe.
• You can line your kitchen pail with newspaper or a brown paper bag to help keep it clean. You can use compostable bags to line your kitchen pail, but please read the details on using compostable bags below. Never place plastic bags in your yellow bucket. 

Never place any plastic bags in your yellow bucket. Plastic is a serious contaminant for composting as it is NOT compostable and will not break down in the composting process.

For this compost program, it is preferred for participants NOT to use “plastic-like” compostable bags. Most of these types of compostable bags are intended for industrial composting operations where the bags can get screened into smaller components and decompose over a longer period of time. The community composting method used in this program is not designed for the decomposition of “plastic-like” compostable bags.

Yes. The City of Gainesville encourages you to continue backyard composting if you already do so. You can still compost lots of materials in your backyard while putting other food waste in your yellow bucket.

After the food waste is empty out of the buckets and into the main compost pile, each bucket gets sprayed down and cleaned by hand. Most of the water used to clean the buckets gets consolidated and then added to the main compost pile. Excess or over-splash water during the cleaning process is used to water fruit trees or the grass on site.

Residents are encouraged to continue to participate for the entire 18-month pilot period. Residents will have the option to discontinue their participation at any time; however, no refunds will be available. Residents wishing to cancel services should contact the Solid Waste Division at waste@gainesvillefl.gov or 352-334-2330.

Residents can only transfer services if they move to a new home within an existing pilot area. Before moving, residents should contact the Solid Waste Division at waste@gainesvillefl.gov or 352-334-2330 to schedule the return of program supplies.

Yes. Contact Beaten Path Compost (beatenpathcompost@gmail.com) to arrange a price and an appointment to collect the compost product at their facility. Unfortunately, this program's grant funding does not cover the cost of providing participants with a free or discounted supply of the finished compost product.

Composting is a natural process that breaks down organic materials, like food scraps and yard trimmings, into an earthy, nutrient-rich, soil-like material (a.k.a. compost).

By participating in the food waste reduction program, you’ll be doing your part to supply nutrient-rich organic material to the composting process. After your food waste is collected, it gets transported to Beaten Path’s facility, where it gets added to a large managed compost pile. Microorganisms then get busy breaking down the material, and their activity starts to heat up the pile. This natural decay process is called aerobic decomposition and is how materials are converted back into usable nutrients for plants.

After several weeks in the pile, the food waste gets transformed into an earthy, soil-like material better known as compost. The stabilized compost is then used by local gardeners and farmers to improve the physical properties of their soil and grow flowers, fruits and vegetables. Adding compost to soil aids in improving water retention and soil aeration, and compost supplies essential nutrients for plant growth.

Residents are encouraged to continue to participate for the entire 18-month pilot period. Residents will have the option to discontinue their participation at any time; however, no refunds will be available. Residents wishing to cancel services should contact the Solid Waste Division at waste@gainesvillefl.gov or 352-334-2330.

Residents can only transfer services if they move to a new home within an existing pilot area. Before moving, residents should contact the Solid Waste Division at waste@gainesvillefl.gov or 352-334-2330 to schedule the return of program supplies.

As much as 40% of the food supply in the U.S. gets wasted, and most of that food waste ends up getting sent to landfills. When food waste ends up in landfills, it decomposes and releases methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By collecting food scraps and food waste paper, we’ll be keeping useful materials out of landfills and keeping climate-change-causing gasses out of our atmosphere.

This pilot program aims to determine the feasibility of operating smaller, community composting collection programs and discover the level of interest residents have in participating in alternative waste recovery programs. This pilot program will provide valuable data to help the City determine what zero waste initiatives to pursue in the future.

Yes. Contact Beaten Path Compost (beatenpathcompost@gmail.com) to arrange a price and an appointment to collect the compost product at their facility. Unfortunately, this program's grant funding does not cover the cost of providing participants with a free or discounted supply of the finished compost product.

While disposing of food scraps in your sink's garbage disposal is convenient, it does come with some drawbacks. Grinding up food scraps in the garbage disposal wastes significant amounts of water & energy, and can contribute to clogs in your home's pipes. Also, managing this material in the wastewater system requires additional resources down the line, such as energy and chemicals, further impacting the environment.

On the contrary, composting your food scraps offers numerous benefits: (1) Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Composting food waste enables controlled decomposition of organic matter, minimizing methane emissions and reducing our carbon footprint; (2) Creation of nutrient-rich solid amendments. Composting transforms food waste into compost which fosters a more sustainable system; and (3) Decrease in material sent to landfills. Even the most advanced wastewater treatment facilities inevitably need to dispose of some remaining biosolids in landfills.

Considering the overall sustainability and environmental consequences, composting emerges as the clear winner over disposing of food waste down the drain. By making composting a part of our daily routine, we can contribute to a healthier and more sustainable future