A smarter public food waste drop-off model in Durham NC

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Client:

City of Durham

Application:

Public food waste drop-off infrastructure

Expanding food scraps collection without a full curbside rollout

The City of Durham introduced metroSTOR food waste drop-off facilities as part of a pilot designed to expand organics diversion without the cost and complexity of citywide curbside collection.

Working with CompostNow, the city created a model that combined secure physical infrastructure with app-based access at selected facilities. The aim was to make participation easy for residents while giving the program cleaner day-to-day operation and more control over contamination.

Why public collection needs both access and control

Food waste drop-off facilities can be a strong option for cities that want to expand organics participation, especially where curbside collection is not available to every resident or would be difficult to scale quickly.

But public-facing facilities also create practical challenges. If access is too open, contamination, misuse, and cleanliness issues can quickly undermine the program. If participation is too difficult, residents do not use the facilities consistently.

Durham needed a system that could keep facilities accessible and user-friendly while creating better visibility into how they were being used and where intervention might be needed.

A digitally enabled model for cleaner day-to-day operation

To support that, Durham launched a pilot in 2024 using metroSTOR enclosures integrated with CompostNow’s CompostHere app.

Residents used the app to locate a participating facility, unlock an access-controlled enclosure at selected sites, and deposit food scraps into the internal cart. The city installed three facilities in total: two access-controlled locations and one open public site.

The program remained free for residents and city employees, with user registration handled through the CompostHere app. Durham then serviced the units directly and processed the collected material at its own composting facility.

The setup kept participation simple while giving the city and its program partner more structure around access, facility use, and contamination response.

Better visibility, cleaner sites, and more targeted intervention

The Durham pilot showed how access-controlled facilities can help expand participation while improving day-to-day site management.

Residents had a convenient food waste option even without curbside service. Selected facilities benefited from stronger control over access and cleaner operation. The city and program partner also gained better visibility into how the facilities were being used, which made it easier to respond when problems appeared.

One of the clearest operational advantages came when contamination was identified at a facility. Instead of sending a broad message to the whole program, staff were able to narrow the issue to a small group of recent users and provide more targeted education.

That kind of response is much harder to achieve in a fully open system.

A flexible model for future organics programs

The Durham project shows that food waste drop-off facilities can do more than simply provide access. When physical infrastructure and access control are designed together, cities can make participation easier while also protecting site conditions and material quality.

It also shows that the infrastructure does not have to be tied to a single software ecosystem. In Durham, metroSTOR enclosures were used alongside CompostNow’s CompostHere platform, demonstrating that partner-managed access systems can be integrated where they support the wider program design.

That flexibility matters for municipalities looking to expand organics diversion without rebuilding the entire program around a single technology stack.

What this shows for public organics programs

The Durham pilot highlights a practical lesson for municipal organics programs: participation and control do not need to be in conflict.

When facilities are convenient, residents are more likely to use them. When infrastructure is secure and access is structured where needed, facilities are easier to keep clean and contamination is easier to manage. In Durham, that combination helped create a more workable public food waste drop-off model – one that supported participation while giving program managers better tools to run the system well.

Looking at food waste drop-off facilities in your own city?

We work with municipalities and program partners to design organics infrastructure that supports participation, protects material quality, and helps public drop-off facilities operate more reliably over time.

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