Durham Rolls Out Smart Food Waste Drop-Off Stations to Boost Organics Recycling

Durham is taking a fresh step toward a cleaner, greener city with the launch of three new food waste drop-off stations designed to make composting easier, and a whole lot cleaner, for residents. The pilot, created in partnership with CompostNow, introduces secure, app‑access enclosures that keep sites tidy while helping the city track participation and reduce contamination.

Residents sign up through the Compost Here mobile app, which lets them find the nearest drop‑off point and unlock the enclosure directly from their phone. Once inside, they can easily deposit their food scraps into a clean, contained cart.

The metroSTOR Organics Cart Enclosure, located at Durham City Hall, South Durham, and the city’s convenience center, are already showing promise. By controlling access, the city is seeing cleaner material streams and getting valuable data about how the sites are being used. When contamination pops up, staff can pinpoint which users were active during that time and send targeted education instead of blasting the entire program.

The pilot highlights a simple truth: when composting is convenient, clean, and clearly managed, participation naturally grows. Durham’s model could offer cities everywhere a smarter way to expand organics recycling without diving straight into the cost of curbside collection.

Read the case study here.