County launches one-year curbside food-scraps pilot in portions of Ithaca

Tompkins County recycling staff on April 16 briefed the Facilities & Infrastructure Committee on a one-year curbside food-scraps pilot called "Fork Them Over," running from April through March 2027 in select Ithaca neighborhoods.

Jeremy Batterley, the county's waste reduction and recycling coordinator, said the pilot aims to demonstrate residential curbside best practices and evaluate feasibility for longer-term implementation. "Some pilot area and timeline information: we're picking up in parts of Ithaca's Northside and Southside neighborhoods and 1- to 3-family homes are eligible in that specific pilot area," Jeremy said, adding the program is currently serving about 200 households toward a participation goal of roughly 360 of 930 homes (about 38%).

Materials will be brought to the county recycling and solid-waste center and processed at Cayuga Compost. Staff reported collection volumes of roughly a third of a ton per collection day (a little over half a ton per week) so far. Funding for the pilot was described as about $200,000 total with roughly $150,000 from a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation grant and the remainder as county match (solid-waste fee funds); much of the budget covers the truck and salaries.

Staff said the pilot includes a food-waste prevention campaign and close stakeholder engagement; the county will track weights, route costs and per-household service costs to inform a potential broader rollout or partnerships with municipalities and haulers.

Committee members raised practical questions about liners (newspaper accepted), drop-spot overlap and program scalability; staff said newspaper or DPI-certified liners work and that all collected material is weighed and monitored at the scale house for reporting.