Ridgewood Boosts Food Scrap Recycling with Secure Drop-Off Points

Ridgewood, New Jersey has successfully expanded its food scrap recycling program by solving a simple but critical challenge: access. While resident demand for organics recycling was strong, the village’s original collection model relied on a staffed recycling center with limited opening hours, making participation inconvenient. A 2021 pilot diverted more than 16 tons of food scraps from 100 households, proving that interest was not the barrier to growth.

To improve convenience without increasing contamination risk, Ridgewood installed secure metroSTOR organics enclosures at public locations. The controlled-access drop-off points enabled wider participation while maintaining material quality and public confidence. Since launching the program, the village has enrolled more than 200 households, diverted over 100 tons of food scraps, and recorded zero contamination incidents and zero neighbor complaints, creating a strong foundation for future expansion.

Read the case study here.