Food Scrap Composting Facilities

According to Hamilton County’s waste composition analysis, food scraps make up about 10% of the waste stream and represent the largest waste stream landfilled in Hamilton County. Strategies to reduce food waste should start with education to reduce food waste and infrastructure to support food recovery. However, we will always create inedible food scraps and creating infrastructure to compost those food scraps will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Composting aerobically breaks down material creating less greenhouse gas emissions than the methane created with anaerobic decomposition. Amending soil with compost additionally allows our soil to act as a “carbon sink” pulling carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil.  

The Cincinnati MSA could support multiple medium to large scale food scrap composting facilities, reducing transportation of the food scraps and decentralizing our waste system. This will also provide greater access for more communities and urban agriculture operations to use the finished compost. Best practices to reduce and/or eliminate odors and create a community asset rather than a community burden should be the basis of operation.