GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Kent County has started a program on this Earth Day to divert food-waste scraps away from its landfills.
You can now drop off food scraps weekly in bins at the Kent County Recycling & Education Center on Wealthy Street on Grand Rapids' west side, or at the recycling center in Rockford. Residents can register by downloading an app to open the containers and dump in their materials free of charge. The organic waste will be converted into compost.
Here is more information from a Kent County news release:
The service will encourage composting and help Kent County send less waste to landfills.
Residents can sign up to use the containers by downloading the free metroKEY app and registering. More information about signing up can be found on DPW’s website. After signing up, residents can bring food scraps to one of the four containers and use the app to open the container and dump in their materials. A full list of accepted materials is available on DPW’s website and is displayed on the containers.
DPW’s partner, Organicycle, a local composting company, will collect the food scraps weekly and turn them into compost at its facility.
During the April 22 event, the DPW and its partners will share information about the program and demonstrate how to use the containers. Residents can also pick up composting buckets from the DPW to ###
The Kent County Department of Public Works provides municipal solid waste disposal services to ensure the effective removal, storage and disposal of residential and commercial solid waste through various facilities and programs, including Waste-to-Energy, the Recycling and Education Center, North Kent Transfer Station and South Kent Landfill.