Bend curbside yard debris recycling expands to food waste

Cascade Disposal and Bend Garbage & Recycling, now Republic Services, announced Monday they are expanding the residential curbside yard debris program to include all food waste for program subscribers in the city of Bend.

Beginning Oct. 1, both companies will collect all food waste curbside from residents participating in the yard debris subscription program. Customers can now add all food scraps directly into their yard debris cart, along with their yard trimmings. The yard debris and food scraps will be processed into nutrient-rich compost by Deschutes Recycling.

“Under the expanded program, nearly every type of food scrap will be accepted, including meat, dairy, produce, and bakery,” says Kristin Steiner, general manager of Republic Services. Steiner adds, “Compost from Deschutes Recycling can be used on gardens creating a closed loop food system for our customers.”

Yard debris customers are invited to pick up a free two-gallon kitchen pail for storing food scraps. The kitchen pails are available at the Bend Garbage office (20835 NE Montana Way) and the Cascade Disposal office (1300 SE Wilson Avenue) in Bend. The pails are a convenient way to collect and store food scraps until it is emptied into the yard debris cart for collection. There will be no changes to the customers’ normal collection schedule.

Erwin Swetnam , Cascade Disposal District Manager says, ” The pilot food waste program launched last fall has been a success, so we are excited to expand this to all customers who are signed up for the yard debris subscription program. ” Swetnam explains, “This is another opportunity for residents within the city of Bend to divert their waste and help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill.”

“The city is very excited about the expansion of the food waste collection program offered by Republic Services and Cascade Disposal,” said Cassie Lacy, city of Bend senior management analyst. “Keeping food waste out of the landfill is an important part of achieving our Community Climate Action goals.”

Materials that cannot go in the cart include plastics bags of any kind, produce stickers, plastic containers, packaging, compostable plastics, foodware , paper, metals or garbage.

For more information about the residential food waste collection program, visit bendgarbage.com or cascadedisposal.com.