The Drop Spot concept was simple! Save up your food scraps at home over the week. Then, pick a time and location that is the most convenient for you to drop it off. That’s it!
In order for our collection to be accepted at the composting facility, it had to be free of contamination. So, here is a list of what we could and couldn’t accept when the Drop Spot was running.
The Drop Spot accepted:
- fruit & vegetables
- meat, bones & dairy
- breads & pastries
- cooked food scraps
- soiled paper towels
- coffee grounds & tea bags
The Drop Spot did not accept:
- plastic bags (unless it is certified compostable)
- plastics or styrofoam
- oils or grease
- coffee cups
- diapers or wipes
- animal waste or cat litter
A Call for Support
The program relied on the donations of the droppers to operate and support the program (including paying for the hauling and tipping charges) and participants were asked to consider a donation of $2 to the program or become a volunteer.
Tips for Droppers
There are likely a few challenges and concerns when you first start collecting food scraps at home. Here are some tips to help make things easier:
– Keep your food scraps in the fridge or freezer. This will help reduce odors. If fridge and freezer space is limited consider making some room for the scraps that will cause the most issues (i.e. meats, seafood, etc.)
– Store your food scraps in containers or paper bags. Becoming even greener by reducing the use of plastic.
– Any shape of size of reusable container will work. You can get kitchen catcher made for the purpose or re-use ice cream buckets, yogurt/salad tubs.
– Use old newspapers to make a liner for your containers and to layer food scraps regularly. This will help minimize odors and keep the container cleaner.
– Bring collected food scraps down to the Drop Spot regularly. Do not leave your food scraps for too long. Unless they are frozen, decomposition will take place and the collection will be messy and likely odorous.
(*Similar to checking for contaminants, our volunteer can reject scraps if its in a questionable state because messy and odorous scraps makes the whole Drop Spot collection very unpleasant and possibly unsafe for volunteers, droppers, and even neighbours. If you need to dispose scraps that is messy or odorous, please be considerate and try to contain the scraps in double layered paper shopping bags, double layered compostable plastic bags, or Bag to Earth food waste bags, before bring it down to the Drop Spot.)