The City of Hilliard Sustainability Plan

Hilliard Sustainability PlanECON. EXECUTIVEENERGY DEV. &SOCIAL SUMMARY WASTE EQ.REDUCTIONWaste, Recycling, and CompostingRecommendation: Encourage home and business compostingthrough outreach, education, and example.A campaign to boost home, business, and community compostingcould reduce the amount of yard and food waste that isunnecessarily sent by Rumpke to the Grove City Landfill, which isowned and operated by the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio(SWACO). Yard wastes such as grass clippings and dead leaves areexcellent sources of nitrogen and carbon, respectively. Other wastesuch as newspapers, brown paper bags, and cardboard also offersources of carbon for compost bins while reducing the amountof municipal solid waste and recyclables to be transported torecycling facilities or landfills.Organic, compostable material constitutes significant portions ofresidential and commercial waste. For example, 25% of residentialsolid waste consists of leaves, yard debris, food scraps, and othercompostable material. 103,104 After recycling corrugated containersand plastics, between 60 and 75% of most supermarket wasteconsists of discarded food, waxed and wet cardboard, paper, meatrenderings, and other biodegradable material. 105 Additionally, up to90% of waste from restaurants is food scraps. 106Expanding efforts to divert yard waste and kitchen scraps tocomposting facilities and at-home composting units wouldsignificantly augment Hilliard’s efforts to achieve sustainability.Whether at home or at a larger facility, organic material thatis composted improves soil by increasing its nutrient content,promoting microbiological life, improving soil structure,enhancing soil’s ability to retain water, neutralizing pH, increasingmicrobiological diversity, and reducing the damage of toxins. 107Furthermore, composting reduces costs for landscaping amendments suchas soil, fertilizer, and indoor plant food.The City should promote home composting among its residents, and itshould provide businesses and restaurants by providing information aboutcomposting services, successful examples of business composting, andthe city’s commitment to composting as a sustainable practice. Buildingon previous years’ efforts will allow the City to incrementally increasecomposting programs.Short Term (1-3 years)» The City should partner with The Ohio State University Extensionin order to develop municipal composting bins on city-ownedproperties. City Hall, the Phyllis A. Ernst Senior Center, and RogerA. Reynolds Municipal Park would all be ideal locations to installthese bins because of their extensive public use and the amountof food scraps and yard waste that is generated at each location.Food waste from employees’ and the seniors’ “Hilliard Park Café”lunches should be composted in these bins, and other organicmaterial, such as newspapers and yard waste, can be added basedon site-specific availability. The City should advertise these bins inthe local news and invite residents to contribute their food wasteto the bins. Additional signage and information should be postedand made available at bin locations in order to encourage residentsto construct their own. Parties responsible: The Mayor of Hilliard,Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Commission, Chair of theRecreation & Parks Commission, Director of the Recreation & Parks,and Director of Lands and Buildings should organize a meeting inorder to realize this recommendation across the various municipallocations. Cost: Compost bins can be inexpensively built with snowfencing or woven wire, which can be purchased for as little as30