Chicago Suburb, Veolia Launch Food Waste Composting Program

A Chicago suburb will launch a pilot food waste composting program with Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp.

The city of Highland Park, Ill., in a partnership with the Chicago-based Veolia, the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, Glad and Orbis, will begin the program Aug. 2 with Veolia’s northeast collection quadrant, which includes about 2,500 eligible households.

The first 125 participating residents will receive a 33-gallon Veolia cart at no charge, an under-sink collection bucket from Orbis and a box of compostable bags for food scraps from Glad. Veolia will collect food waste curbside once a week and transport  it to Nu-Earth Organics in Waukegan, Ill., for composting, the city said in a news release.

The total cost of the program is $40 per participating residence. The program will run through Nov. 29, at which time the city will evaluate its effectiveness.