Maplewood Township is currently hosting a food waste composting pilot program. The program, which will be further evaluated at the end of 2022, services 70 participating households who have agreed to collect and bring their food waste to the Department of Public Works (DPW) lot at 359 Boyden Ave, Maplewood, NJ 07040. From the DPW lot, the waste is collected for transportation to a commercial composting facility in Andover, NJ.

Participation in the program is dependent on form submission, payment of participation fee, and completion of mandatory virtual training. If you are interested in participating in the pilot program, please submit your information using the Google Form.

Eligibility to Participate

• Residents from throughout Maplewood are eligible to participate. New participants are chosen on a first-come, first-served basis by DPW section.
• If you are already composting food waste in your backyard, or if you subscribe to a curbside food waste collection program, you are not eligible to participate in this pilot program.

Reasons to Participate

• It's a great way to reduce garbage going to the Essex County incinerator, where up to 30% of what we discard is organic food waste. The average home could reduce waste by 10-20 pounds per week!
• Your food waste will be made into high quality compost, which provides a host of environmental benefits.
• Pilot participation provides valuable information on the potential to reduce food waste through composting, which can lead to cost savings in trash disposal.
• This pilot program will be studied to assess feasibility for expanded implementation of composting, both in Maplewood and throughout New Jersey.