Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
This project pilots composting at multifamily (5 or more unit) properties in the City of Portland, with the intention of better understanding what technology and infrastructure characteristics inform a successful compost program.Multifamily properties currently represent approximately 48% of housing units in Portland and are an increasing proportion of housing in the city. Residential, single-family properties have had curbside compost in Portland since 2011, but composting remains optional for multifamily properties due to the unique challenges of these larger buildings. Lack of compost collection creates an unequal service standard between single-family and multifamily residents in the City of Portland, while increasing the landfilling of food waste. Landfilling food waste is a lost opportunity to increase soil health and equitable food access, and it increases Portland's methane emissions.Piloting multifamily compost service will give Portland a better understanding of existing problems in implementing multifamily compost service, and potential technology inputs to improve compost participation and reduce compost contamination. Gathering survey inputs from haulers, property managers, and tenantswill provide qualitative information to assist in education and outreach for compost expansion to all multifamily properties, addressing the challenges of public opinion when new services are required. Combined with a partnership to provide free compost to local school and community gardens with Growing Gardens, piloting multifamily composting will increase circularity of food systems and help tenants see the benefit of their efforts.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to gather important data to inform the future creation of a successful citywide multifamily food waste composting program, providing valuable compostable materials to community organizations, farms, and individuals while reducing food waste, emissions, and increasing soil health.Objective 1: Learn what technology additions are effective, scalable, and cost-effective means of reducing food waste in landfills and maintaining quality of compost feedstocks given the unique challenges of multifamily buildings.Properties will be provided with technology support to test effectiveness as follows:Group A: Five properties will receive compost service with no additional technology. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group B: Five properties will have compost service and each household unit provided with a caddy to assist in carrying compost to the enclosure space. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group C: Five properties will be provided with MetroStor containers to house their roll carts, which may eliminate some of the composting concerns like not having large-enough enclosure spaces. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group D: Five properties will have both MetroStor containers and caddies for each household unit. All properties will have twice- weekly pickup.Group E: Five properties will have an in-home composter (The Mill) at each household unit, which will reduce smells and the space and weight of compost by 80%, necessitating only once monthly pickup.Effectiveness will be tested through compost and garbage audits, each done three times per property over the course of their compost service.Objective 2: Better understand what, if any, logistics and infrastructure characteristics contribute to successful composting at multifamily properties and how these compare to typical enclosures in Portland, allowing us to create data-informed enclosure requirements for new developments.40 properties' enclosures will be characterized.Objective 3: Identify operational strategies that open opportunities to keep food waste in the region for use on local farms, especially those within the region that are owned or managed by farmers of color, thereby increasing the circularity of local and regional food systems.Through partnership with Growing Gardens, we will identify localcommunity gardens to receive compost material created through the municipal compost program.Objective 4: Reduce food waste entering landfills, thereby reducing methane emissions.By providing compost service and education to approximately 600 households for a calendar year, we will help avoid the related food-waste methane emissions fromthe landfill. With the data collected during this pilot, we will be better ableto explore expanding our single-family compost program to include multifamily properties.Objective 5: Provide food-waste prevention strategies and education to multifamily residents as a part of the compost pilot implementation and outreach. The EPA's Wasted Food Scale prioritizes preventing wasted food before donating, composting, or anaerobic digestion. Portland already includes food saving education as part of our regular composting education to single-family households and restaurants.This pilot will provide every multifamily household of the pilot with food-waste prevention strategies and education that highlight the importance of preventing waste before composting, expanding this outreach strategy to new, multifamily households.
Project Methods
To achieve the project's goals and objectives Portland will provide free compost service to 25 multifamily properties serving approximately 600 households with compost service. All potential properties will be assessed to greater understand their existing enclosure characteristics and where they may struggle to meet existing regional service standards. Specific characteristic metrics will be determined by an internal City of Portland work group.The 25 properties that receive compost service will vary in additional technology and support provided, but will all receive food storage, preservation, and zero-waste education. Success of the compost pilot will be defined by whether compost service and education was provided to the property for the duration of the pilot, and appropriate and completeness of data collection.To measure the effectiveness of composting given different technology and enclosure characteristics to inform future multifamily composting programs, effectiveness will be measured by random auditing of both garbage and compost containers. More effective compost programs will be defined by lower contamination marked by lower presence of non-compostable materials in the compost containers. High resident participation will be marked by lower levels of food waste in garbage containers. Three random audits will be performed of garbage and three of compost containers at each property over the duration of the pilot to assess compost effectiveness.Properties will be provided with technology support as follows:Group A: Five properties will receive compost service with no additional technology. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group B: Five properties will have compost service and each household unit provided with a caddy to assist in carrying compost to the enclosure space. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group C: Five properties will be provided with MetroStor containers to house their roll carts, which may eliminate some of the composting concerns like not having large-enough enclosure spaces. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group D: Five properties will have both MetroStor containers and caddies for each household unit. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group E: Five properties will have an in-home composter (The Mill) at each household unit, which will reduce smells and the space and weight of compost by 80%, necessitating only once monthly pickup.