City of Houston officials are looking to expand the city's composting program to reduce the amount of food waste being sent to landfills.

The details

Houston City Council approved the Solid Waste Management Department's plans Aug. 28 to apply for a $400,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand its composting services.

According to the Aug. 28 agenda packet, the city's goal is to reduce the environmental impacts of solid waste disposal by improving the diversion of food waste generated through the solid waste system.

The Composting and Food Waste Reduction Grant Pilot Project has three main objectives to meet that goal:

• Engage with communities through online and broadcast media, printed messages and community outreach, including direct education regarding food waste and composting.
• Support the diversion of food waste entering the landfill from the Houston Food Bank, which generates food waste from retail grocery stores, farmers and processors.
• Work closely with community partners to launch and sustain additional residential food waste drop-off and compost distribution locations.

Council member Sally Alcorn said the SWMD applied for the same grant last year, but was denied. She said some changes were made to the application, and department officials are hoping to be awarded this year.

"It's a good grant," she said. "We are the fourth largest city in the country and this is going to save us from the landfills. Food waste is 25% of our municipal landfill. We are all going to compost one day, so this is a step in the right direction."

Did you know?

Composting, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, is the natural process of recycling items such as leaves and food scraps into a fertilizer to enrich soil and plants. According to the NRDC, one of the main benefits of composting is reducing the waste stream and cutting the cost to landfills.

By the numbers

• Food scraps and garden waste combined make up almost 25% of what households throw away in the U.S.
• The average cost to landfill municipal solid waste in the U.S. was around $56 per ton in 2023.
• In Houston, the Solid Waste Management Department services nearly 400,000 households.
• The city currently generates 4.3 million tons of waste.
• The majority of Houston waste is disposed in one of the 12 regional landfills.

"Composting will help save our landfills," council member Abbie Kamin said. "It will help save taxpayer dollars in the long run. It takes about 10 to 15 years to secure a new landfill in Texas."

Stay tuned

If awarded, the anticipated project period would run from January 2025 to June 2027.