Top: Households received a kitchen caddy and a 5-gallon bucket to set out their food scraps for collection. Images courtesy Zero Waste DC

In August 2023, the District of Columbia’s Department of Public Works’ (DPW) Office of Waste Diversion launched the Curbside Composting Pilot Program to test food waste collection from single-family households in Washington, DC. Single-family households includes dwellings with up to three units. After a 12-month pilot, the program has transitioned to the Compost DC: Food Waste Collection program. The DC DPW is not adding new participants at this time. However, it aims to add a limited number of new households in the new year as current participants move away or opt-out. Priority will be given to residents living in designated low-income and disadvantaged communities across the District, mainly concentrated in Wards 5, 7, and 8. The pilot has about 9,000 participating households; about 1,000 tons of food scraps were collected in the first year. The set-out rate for the 5-gallon screw-top collection container was close to 70%, according to the DPW. All food scraps, including meat, fish and dairy, are accepted. Households were given a kitchen countertop caddy and 100 BPI-certified compostable bags. Collected materials are taken to the Prince George’s County Organic Composting Facility in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.