SOUTH BOISE, Idaho — Boise’s compost program, which turns food scraps like banana peels, apple cores, and much more into high-quality compost, is growing.
The program began with curbside bins, but not everyone in the city lives in a home with trash service. That’s why the city has expanded service to include residents of apartments and condos.
After a successful pilot program, Boise recently added two new food scrap drop-off locations on the south side of town, with the goal of keeping more food waste out of the landfill and turning it into compost for the community’s gardens instead.
WATCH: Learn more about the new drop-off locations and Boise's compost program
The two new locations are at Shoshone Park and Marianne Williams Park.
"We have over 300 Boiseans participating in this program, and we're getting more registrations every day," said Lisa Knapp, who runs Boise’s compost program.
Knapp says their goal is to make composting as accessible as possible, to as many neighbors as possible.
"We've got about 78,000 homes that have compost service at the curb, but we realized that that was missing about one in five Boise households because of the type of dwelling that they live in. So when folks live in a condo or an apartment, they can't have a curbside cart," Knapp said.
The city now has a total of four drop-off locations across Boise, where residents can bring any and all food scraps from their kitchen.
"We take meat, dairy, moldy bread, the things you've cut off your fruits and vegetables, and then stuff that's gone bad in your refrigerator," Knapp said.
All collected material is sent to the city’s compost facility south of town, where it essentially “bakes” for several months into usable, high-quality compost.
Officials ask residents to keep non-compostable trash out of these bins, as crews must remove contamination by hand.
Boiseans can pick up finished compost at two compost giveback sites around the city. You can learn more about the program and where those giveback sites are here.
