{"id":30505,"date":"2026-08-28T09:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ilsr.org\/?post_type=article&p=30505"},"modified":"2026-08-28T10:11:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:11:36","slug":"case-study-albany-newyork","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/ilsr.org\/es\/article\/composting-for-community\/case-study-albany-newyork","title":{"rendered":"Relying on Existing Food Scrap Recyclers"},"template":"","class_list":["post-30505","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_type-case-study","initiatives-composting-for-community","topics-community-composting","impact_areas-climate-and-environmental-justice","impact_areas-democratic-governance","authors-nora-goldstein"],"acf":{"details":{"featured_image":30552,"background_color":"tan","article_type":[712],"initiative":15,"display_event_fields":false,"display_case_study_fields":false,"start_date":null,"end_date":null,"start_time":null,"end_time":null,"time_zone":"America\/New_York","virtual_event":false,"location":"","locality":"Albany","state":"N.Y.","topics":[42],"impact_areas":[16,19],"abstract":"This case study is from the Keep Compost Local report featuring public-private partnerships between the City of Albany (New York), Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, and Friends of the Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm, Inc.","authors_tax":[701]},"sidebar":{"title":"\u00cdndice"},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"This case study was originally published in Mant\u00e9n el compost local<\/a>, a report offering survey data, case studies, and policy recommendations to equip governments to collaborate with local composters and foster community prosperity. <\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/em>","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Municipality and Interviewee<\/strong>: City of Albany, Sonny Von Tiedemann, Recycling & Composting Coordinator<\/p>\r\n

Community Composters:<\/strong>\u00a0The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center (Scott Kellogg, Educational Director) and Friends of the Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm, Inc. (Kim Tateo, Executive Director and Farm Manager)<\/p>","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)<\/h3>\r\nIn May 2021, the City of Albany kicked off a multi-pronged residential food scraps diversion program using a $225,000 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC). The grant enabled the City\u2019s Department of General Services to partner with two community-based organizations \u2014 The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center (Radix)<\/a> y Friends of the Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm (Tivoli)<\/a> \u2014 to provide drop-off locations for residential food scraps. The City also partnered with Radix and a for-profit business \u2014 FoodScraps360<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to promote its existing fee-for-service curbside collection offering. The grant also established a backyard composting program that provided free at-home composting materials, including a kitchen bin, a backyard composting bin, access to free wood chips, and an educational brochure to help residents successfully compost at home.\r\n\r\nIn 2023, the City of Albany received another grant from NYS DEC for $200,000. With those funds, a request for proposals (RFP)<\/a> was issued to procure services for: 1) food waste collection at events; 2) curbside food scraps collection; 3) hosting a designated food scraps collection site; and 4) hosting a designated food scraps collection and processing site. The City awarded the contract to service City of Albany events to FoodScraps360, a woman-owned collection service, which uses the City of Bethlehem\u2019s (New York) food scrap and yard trimmings composting facility. No contract has been awarded for curbside collection. Tivoli and Radix received the contracts to host a food scraps collection and processing site. The grant was also used to procure ten \u201csmart bins\u201d for food scraps drop-off to be installed around Albany that are accessible via an app or key card. In addition, the City of Albany set aside funds to cover the cost of compost \u201ctechnicians\u201d<\/a> to help backyard composters assess the health of their compost piles and manage various challenges that arise during the composting process, such as bad odors, unwanted bugs, and low compost production.","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"Municipal Motivation"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Municipal Motivation<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_30550\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"417\"]\"\" FoodScraps360 packer truck for food scraps collection. Credit: City of Albany[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe City of Albany\u2019s Rapp Road Landfill is scheduled to close by 2028, which could potentially increase the cost of solid waste disposal due to the transfer and long-hauling of the trash. Food waste comprises about 20% of Albany\u2019s trash stream; thus, reduction in wasted food and composting is a focus of Albany\u2019s solid waste management planning. When the City received the $225,000 grant from NYS DEC in 2021, the goal was to ensure that all Albany residents could pick one of the three options \u2014 backyard composting, drop-off, or curbside collection. \u201cThe City has a pretty high poverty rate,\u201d notes Sonny Von Tiedemann. \u201cThe City wanted to make sure all of Albany\u2019s residents could pick one option. Not everyone has a car, people don\u2019t have money to pay for a subscription service, and some don\u2019t have backyards. If they don\u2019t have access to a backyard, they can do drop-off, and if they have financial means to pay for collection, the City can offer access to service providers.\u201d Von Tiedemann started working at the City of Albany when the original grant was awarded. \u201cI looked at the lay of the land, and came across FoodScraps360 and Radix, which were already providing services,\u201d he adds. \u201cInstead of investing cost and time for the City to start its own food scraps collection, we decided we wanted to contribute to what they were already doing.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe grant funded the purchase of Earth Machines for backyard composting, and kitchen countertop containers that households use to collect food scraps, whether for composting at home, bringing them to a drop-off site, or setting out at the curb for collection. Radix already had a food scraps drop-off bin at its one-acre urban farm and educational center. With the grant, it became an \u201cofficial\u201d City drop-off site. The Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm is on land owned by the City of Albany. Tivoli set up a food scraps drop-off site and a 3-bin composting system using the grant funds. The City provides wood chips to both Radix and Tivoli to layer onto food scraps that are dropped off, as well as for use in composting. The City also gives wood chips to households with backyard bins when the bin is set up and provides information regarding additional free wood chips to participants throughout the year.\r\n\r\nDuring the period of the initial $225,000 DEC grant, the City of Albany contracted with Radix to provide consulting services, primarily around compost education. This included educational programming for youth, both at Radix\u2019s Center and in the City\u2019s schools. The organization also has a high school youth employment program.\r\n\r\nAlbany has about 36,000 single- up to 4-unit households. Over 1,000 backyard composting bins have been set up since 2021; about 150 households participate in Radix\u2019s curbside program, which costs $20 per month for weekly service. Radix uses electric cargo bicycles and tricycles to collect food scraps. Residents also have the option to use FoodScraps360\u2019s pick-up service. The cost is $26 per month for one 5-gallon bin and $30 for two 5-gallon bins. In 2024, grant-funded initiatives diverted about 270 tons of food scraps via backyard composting, drop-off, and curbside collection, as well as commercial collection done by Radix. (Not included are the commercial tonnages collected by FoodScraps360.)","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_pullquote_feature","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_pullquote_feature":{"quote":"I looked at the lay of the land and came across FoodScraps360 and Radix, which were already providing services. Instead of investing cost and time for the City to start its own food scraps collection, we decided we wanted to contribute to what they were already doing.","image":"","attribution":"Sonny Von Tiedemann, Recycling & Composting Coordinator, City of Albany"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_image_grid","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_image_grid":{"repeater":true,"images":null,"images_repeater":[{"image":30549,"caption":"Summer youth workers at Radix\u2019s urban farm.\r\nCredit: Institute for Local Self-Reliance","link":""},{"image":30551,"caption":"Postcard encouraging participation in composting.\r\nCredit: City of Albany","link":""}],"ratio":"normal","width":"medium"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"Composting Activity"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Composting Activity<\/h3>\r\nRadix accepts vegetative food scraps, unbleached soiled paper, and meat and dairy in small amounts. Collected food scraps are fed to a flock of chickens and ducks. Radix has passively aerated composting piles that process the manure scrapings removed from the birds\u2019 enclosure; on occasion, food scraps are composted in these piles when there is more than can be managed by the flock. Finished compost is used on Radix\u2019s urban farm; produce is sold in a farm share program.\r\n\r\nTivoli accepts vegetative food scraps, shredded soiled paper and cardboard, leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds and filters, and tea bags at its drop-off site. Staff and volunteers manage the 3-bin composting operation; finished compost is used in Tivoli\u2019s gardens.","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"Divulgaci\u00f3n y educaci\u00f3n"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Divulgaci\u00f3n y educaci\u00f3n<\/h3>\r\nThe grant funds helped pay for signage at the drop-off sites, collection bins for households to use for their food scraps, and other outreach and educational materials. The City\u2019s Albany Composts webpage<\/a> describes the programs and opportunities available to households to participate. Von Tiedemann participates in composting education and outreach in the community, including tabling at various community events, such as at farmers\u2019 markets.","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"Costs & Benefits: City of Albany"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Costs & Benefits: City of Albany<\/h3>\r\nThe City of Albany\u2019s partnerships with established community-based organizations \u201cgave the City credibility when it initiated its food scraps collection and composting programs,\u201d says Von Tiedemann. \u201cThese groups are recognized for their environmental advocacy and community-focused initiatives. They were doing the work many years before our program started at a time when there wasn\u2019t a lot of support and funding available for food waste diversion projects. They carved out a space that the City could tap into and support financially for their services.\u201d The NYS DEC grants enabled the City of Albany to create and sustain the City\u2019s composting programs. The grant funds awarded in 2023 expire in 2026. The City of Albany has the option to extend the grant for two additional years. \u201cWe will be filing the extensions,\u201d adds Von Tiedemann. \u201cAfter the grant expires, all of the programs are expected to continue in perpetuity.\u201d","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"Costs & Benefits: Community-Based Organizations"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Costs & Benefits: Community-Based Organizations<\/h3>\r\nWhile Radix had been offering food scraps collection and processing services prior to the grant funding, the monies have helped offset the costs of site improvements and labor. Eventually, the City of Albany would like to use some of the compost produced by its partners for springtime plantings throughout the city and potentially for soil remediation in environmental justice communities.","":null,"settings":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_image_grid","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_image_grid":{"repeater":true,"images":null,"images_repeater":[{"image":30548,"caption":"Chickens eating food scraps at Radix.\r\nCredit: Radix","link":""},{"image":30553,"caption":"Greenhouse at Radix.\r\nCredit: Radix","link":""}],"ratio":"normal","width":"medium"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_anchor","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_anchor":{"title":"PPP Lessons Learned"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

PPP Lessons Learned<\/h3>\r\nIf municipalities want to establish a program like the City of Albany\u2019s, a full-time employee is needed to create and manage the programs initiated. \u201cWorking with Radix and Tivoli on this project has taught me the importance of balancing the expectations and budgetary conditions of both the City and the nonprofit partners so that everyone is comfortable with the project and believes it is moving in a direction that best serves the residents and achieves the City\u2019s sustainability goals,\u201d explains Von Tiedemann. \u201cCreate connections with community groups first and then, together, present the proposed plans to elected officials like a City Council. That helps build support for the desired projects.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn a presentation on an ILSR webinar<\/a>, Von Tiedemann offered recommendations for municipal governments when partnering with community-based organizations (CBOs), including:\r\n