This case study was originally published in Keep Compost Local, a report offering survey data, case studies, and policy recommendations to equip governments to collaborate with local composters and foster community prosperity.
Municipality and Interviewee: Frank Dituri, Director, Department of Public Services, City of Traverse City
Community Composter: Carter’s Compost (Megan Alexander, Owner)
The City of Traverse City received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) grant to pilot a small on-site food scraps composting system on City property. It used grant funds to purchase an in-vessel composter. The City contracts with Carter’s Compost to offer food scraps collection. In exchange, the community composter can bring collected food scraps to the City’s site. The City contracts with SEEDS Ecology & Education Centers (SEEDS), a community-based nonprofit, to support project management and reporting, perform quarterly maintenance of the composting unit, and cure and distribute the compost produced in the in-vessel system. The maintenance and operational tasks, depending on what needs to be done, are split among the three partners.
Municipal Motivation
SEEDS, which has partnered with Traverse City on various projects over the years, informed the City about the USDA grant opportunity and assisted the City staff and the City’s grant writer in completing the application. Traverse City’s motivation was to use the grant to build community awareness about composting food scraps and to pilot test the management of a food scrap composting program in addition to strengthening its long-standing yard trimmings composting services. This was also seen as part of the City’s larger efforts toward decarbonization. As part of its in-kind match, City staff time (Communications and Public Services Department staff) has been allocated to facilitate the installation and maintenance of the composting equipment and also to provide a regular supply of wood chips for mixing with food scraps. Traverse City utilized property adjacent to its Public Services’ vehicle garage to house the in-vessel composting unit. City staff chose the temporary location to provide the best visibility and opportunity for public awareness.
Painted in-vessel compost system. Credit: City of Traverse City
SEEDS and Carter’s Compost celebrate installation of in-vessel compost system. Credit: SEEDS
Composting Activity
Carter’s Compost operates a residential and commercial food scraps collection and composting service in the Traverse City region. Residents subscribe to curbside service for a fee, or can select a “pay as you throw” option at designated drop-off locations on a seasonal basis. Commercial clients pay a per-cart pick-up fee. The company established four hyperlocal composting locations in the city (one at a children’s garden and several on farms). It also uses the City’s in-vessel composting site, which opened in September 2024. Compost produced at the hyper-local sites is given back to subscribers.
Using the USDA grant funds (total of $255,396), Traverse City purchased a 20-cubic-yard Earth Flow™ in-vessel composter to meet the City’s goal of processing 100 tons per year of food scraps (equivalent to 11 64-gallon carts per week) for $136,360 (all-inclusive in-vessel system, shipping and handling, installation, basic training) and $69,536 for site prep (concrete pad, electric, sorting table, and shed). Carter’s Compost tips food scraps from its collection routes into the vessel, adds wood chips, and oversees the operation of the unit, including monitoring temperatures and moisture, and removing contamination. SEEDS transports output from the unit to a curing site on its property.
Outreach and Education
The Traverse City Communications Division leads the outreach and education efforts for the two-year pilot project. The focus is on community education, capitalizing on the visibility of the composting site to residents (it is across the street from the public library) as well as well-marked signage along the neighboring sidewalk and bike trail. For example, a “Pumpkin Smash” event was held at the site last fall, which drew a lot of families to the event, providing an opportunity for education about the benefits of food scraps composting.
Compost Markets
After curing by SEEDS, the nonprofit distributes the compost from the pilot to City-authorized projects, which include a municipal park and community donation gardens (where community members grow fresh produce to share with those in need, often through food rescue organizations).
Costs & Benefits: Traverse City
Other than staff time that is used to meet the City’s USDA grant’s in-kind match ($68,032), Traverse City is conducting the pilot at no cost to itself. The primary benefit, according to the Director of Public Services, is to successfully demonstrate hyper-local food scraps composting, leading to more interest in scaled-up collection and composting operations, whether by the City, the County, a third party, or a multi-stakeholder partnership. He adds that the City does not currently have in-house expertise to engage households to participate in food scraps separation and collection, nor the capacity to develop its own collection program. However, it does have a robust yard trimmings collection and composting program. After the grant term ends, the program can continue until the site is needed for other purposes. At that point, Traverse City’s plan is to have the composting vessel relocated to a non-City site, notes Frank Dituri, “Our goal is that this project inspires others to further the effort.”
Dituri represents the City on a tri-county committee that is developing a Materials Management Plan (MMP), which involves developing organics recycling infrastructure. Creation of the MMP is required by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE), replacing the traditional solid waste management plan that focuses more on disposal.
Costs & Benefits: Carter’s Compost and SEEDS
While the City contracts with Carter’s Compost to collect food scraps to be processed in the in-vessel unit, it is a zero-dollar value contract; Carter’s Compost’s revenues only come from its subscribers. Carter’s Compost is able to invoice the City for some of the costs it incurs to help operate the in-vessel composter. Those costs are paid through the grant. In the future, the company recommends that the City’s budget include a line item to pay for this type of contracted service. A significant benefit of the pilot project is increased residential and commercial awareness of the value in source-separating food scraps for composting, resulting in gaining new subscribers.
SEEDS received $39,700 from the USDA CFWR grant funds to provide project management support, quarterly scheduled maintenance of the in-vessel unit, compost distribution, and support for community engagement and outreach. SEEDS’ executive director Sarna Salzman notes that the pilot was designed to help Traverse City “launch the conversation” about food scraps collection and composting, “creating the literacy and the comfort” for broader program adoption in the future. Salzman is an environmental representative on the same tri-county MMP committee and currently serves as its chair.
Funding
This public-private partnership is only possible due to the award of the USDA CFWR grant. Carter’s Compost recently received a $57,018 grant from EGLE to purchase a cargo van with a lift gate, enabling the company to increase food scraps collection volume from 21,000 pounds per year to over 200,000 pounds per year, according to EGLE. SEEDS also uses grant funding to carry out many of its initiatives.
PPP Lessons Learned
The City’s intentions were clear from the get-go that the pilot was intended to build awareness about local composting of food scraps and to support a more robust regional solution — but not to necessarily become the regional solution itself. Notes Dituri, “The primary lesson learned is that starting small and raising awareness will lead to a growing desire to promote further organic waste processing and reduction, fueling the entire community to engage.”
The private/nonprofit entities in the PPP view the outcome of the pilot as foundational to building out more permanent, decentralized composting infrastructure in and around Traverse City.
Maintenance challenges with a mechanical composting unit — including waiting for replacement parts — need to be built into the operating model in these types of PPP contracts.
Develop standard operating procedures for small- to medium-sized food scraps composting systems and programs (e.g., system operation, outreach and education, budget line items), which can be carried forward in future PPPs.
The primary lesson learned is that starting small and raising awareness will lead to a growing desire to promote further organic waste processing and reduction, fueling the entire community to engage.
Frank Dituri, Director, Department of Public Services, City of Traverse City
Featured Photo: Volunteers from Father Fred Foundation in partnership with SEEDS staff on the SEEDS Farm to spread finished compost for growing produce. Credit: SEEDS
Keep Compost Local: A Roadmap for Local Governments to Build Community Prosperity with Composting
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