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East Point to launch community compost program

**EMBARGO: No electronic distribution, Web posting or street sales before WEDNESDAY 11:50 P.M. ET JAN. 25, 2023. No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** FILE — A worker sorts through food scraps at the East River Compost Yard in Manhattan, on Dec. 15, 2020. A decade after Michael R. Bloomberg co-opted a line from “Star Trek” to declare composting the “final recycling frontier,” New York City is finally poised to unveil plans to implement what it is calling the nation’s largest composting program. (Sarah Blesener/The New York Times)

**EMBARGO: No electronic distribution, Web posting or street sales before WEDNESDAY 11:50 P.M. ET JAN. 25, 2023. No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** FILE — A worker sorts through food scraps at the East River Compost Yard in Manhattan, on Dec. 15, 2020. A decade after Michael R. Bloomberg co-opted a line from “Star Trek” to declare composting the “final recycling frontier,” New York City is finally poised to unveil plans to implement what it is calling the nation’s largest composting program. (Sarah Blesener/The New York Times)
By Wilborn P. Nobles III
Sept 12, 2023

The city of East Point, in partnership with CompostNow and nonprofit Food Well Alliance, is launching a free, first-of-its-kind food waste drop-off program for residents.

Beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday, residents can visit ArtsXchange at 2148 Newnan St. in East Point to drop off food waste. The resulting compost will be returned to local Black and Indigenous farmers and growers of color at no cost, thanks to a federal grant.

The resulting compost will be given to local Black and Indigenous farmers for free, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February awarded CompostNow and East Point a grant to pilot a two-year program.

**EMBARGO: No electronic distribution, Web posting or street sales before WEDNESDAY 11:50 P.M. ET JAN. 25, 2023. No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** FILE — Food scraps at the East River Compost Yard in Manhattan, on Dec. 15, 2020. A decade after Michael R. Bloomberg co-opted a line from “Star Trek” to declare composting the “final recycling frontier,” New York City is finally poised to unveil plans to implement what it is calling the nation’s largest composting program. (Sarah Blesener/The New York Times)

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East Point is the first metro Atlanta city to create a City Agriculture Plan, thanks to the Atlanta Regional Commission and Food Well Alliance. Implementation of the plan has been funded with a $250,000 USDA grant, a $75,000 Food Well Alliance grant, and in-kind support from the city of East Point.

Program attendees enter the ArtsXchange driveway and drive through the gate to park in the rear of the building. From 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, the program will feature a ribbon cutting with city officials, compost demonstrations, on-site harvesting of food from the community garden, and distribution of compost starter kits. Community members are also invited to come and pick up compost starter kits from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

ExploreInside City Hall: City leaders focus on food access

About the Author

Follow Wilborn Nobles on twitter

Wilborn P. Nobles III covers Atlanta City Hall for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He began covering DeKalb County Schools for The AJC in November 2020. He previously covered Baltimore County for The Baltimore Sun and education for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. He interned at the Washington Post. He graduated from Louisiana State University.

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