Boston to shift curbside food‑waste pickup to every other week to enroll waitlisted households

The City Council Committee on City Services heard testimony Sept. 18 that Boston will change the curbside food‑waste pilot from weekly to biweekly pickup beginning Oct. 5. Chair Ed Flynn opened the hearing on Docket 0773, and administration staff said the service change is intended to expand enrollment to households on the waitlist while also cutting route inefficiencies.

Chris Osgood, who led the administration presentation, said the change "allows us to be able to actually have everybody who's on the waitlist... be able to enroll in the program" and that moving to every‑other‑week collection also "saves about $7,000 of overall costs" in the program. Staff said the pilot currently serves about 27,000 households and that the waitlist had about 1,600 names; contractor projections in the contracted budget would allow the city to add the waitlist and then expand further.

Councilors asked how the cadence change would affect emissions and local air quality. Osgood and Chief Brian Swett (environmental chief) said the aggregate carbon impact of a program this size is limited citywide but that fewer truck trips would reduce local diesel emissions in neighborhoods. The administration also emphasized outreach plans—multilingual materials, a starter kit and app notifications—to help residents adjust to the new schedule.

The committee did not take a vote during the hearing; staff said households already enrolled will remain on weekly pickup until Oct. 5 and that zone assignments and outreach will be finalized in the coming weeks.