Greenbelt’s Food Scraps Drop-off Program makes it easy and accessible for Greenbelt residents to compost their food scraps at the Residential Recycling Center located between Buddy Attick Park and the Public Works complex.
Food waste constitutes about 22 percent of discarded solid waste in America. That waste normally ends up in landfills or gets incinerated. Either way, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Waste is filling up our landfills, another reason to divert as much food as possible to a better use.
Composting is an easy, sustainable alternative with a huge value added. Nutrients go back into our local food system when the finished compost becomes an enriching, natural fertilizer for local farms or gardens, creating a truly sustainable food cycle system.
Because this composting is done in a large-scale, temperature-controlled way, foods and other items that normally can’t be used for individual garden composting are welcome. Even meat, fish, poultry, bones, dairy and soiled paper will break down just fine. Caution: a few things are not welcome, such as plastic, excrement, bulk fats or wood ash.
For extra convenience, buckets and caddies to store and transport scraps are available from Public Works. Visit the recycling center at the Public Works building at 555 Crescent Road, or call 301-474-8004 for more information.