Rust Belt Riders Launches Pilot Food Scrap Composting Drop-Off Program
- Ronaldo Rodriguez Jr.
- May 6
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 15
The largest category of material placed in municipal landfills is food. In Cleveland, nearly a third of what ends up in our trash bins is food waste. That’s a staggering amount of scraps, leftovers, and kitchen trimmings filling landfills when they could be doing something far more powerful: nourishing our soil, supporting community gardens, and restoring our neighborhoods.
The City of Cleveland has partnered with Rust Belt Riders, a local, worker-owned cooperative, to launch a new citywide food scrap composting pilot program. For the first time, residents can drop off their household food waste at convenient community sites across the city for a nominal cost - or at no cost for the first 250 SNAP-eligible households to sign up.
Composting isn’t just about diverting waste. It’s about creating life. It’s about turning what we discard into something that gives back.
Moreover, composting embodies justice. The environmental burdens of our waste systems are disproportionately borne by low-income neighborhoods. By reducing what we send to those sites and keeping our food scraps local, we’re beginning to shift that burden and invest in a healthier, more equitable city.
How the program works:
Cleveland residents can bring food scraps like fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, and more to one of over a dozen drop-off points across the city. After signing up, participants receive a four-digit code to access the bins where food scraps are deposited. Rust Belt Riders then collects and processes the material, converting our collective food waste into nutrient-rich compost.
Drop-off locations include:
Old Brooklyn – Six Shooter Coffee, 4193 Pearl Rd.
Detroit Shoreway – Legacy Garden, 1366 W 74th St.
Ohio City – Phoenix Coffee, 3000 Bridge Ave.
There are 18 community collection sites in Cleveland-proper that SNAP-eligible households can use as a part of that free program. There are over 47 sites total in the Greater Cleveland area.
For a full list of locations, visit: rustbeltriders.com/dropoff.
Accepted items include fruit and vegetable scraps, dairy, meat, bones, coffee filters, and BPI-certified compostable packaging. Unaccepted items include produce stickers, yard waste, plastic, and styrofoam.
For a list of acceptable and unacceptable items, visit: rustbeltriders.com/whatcanicompost.
This initiative represents more than just a new service, it’s a cultural shift. It challenges us to see food waste not as trash, but as a regenerative resource with the power to heal our land and communities.
When we compost, we reduce harmful methane emissions from landfills. We invest in the health of our neighborhoods. Compost improves soil structure, enhances water retention, and supports the growth of trees, gardens, and native plants, all of which help cool our streets, clean our air, and bring beauty to our city.
It also helps build local resilience by creating a steady, homegrown supply of high-quality compost that can be returned to Cleveland’s urban farms, school gardens, and green spaces. In doing so, it closes the loop between what we consume and what we give back.
This is about more than food scraps, it’s about building a future rooted in care, reciprocity, and shared responsibility. Whether you’re a gardener or someone simply trying to live more sustainably, this is an easy and impactful way to be part of something bigger.
Let’s turn our waste into something that feeds Cleveland.
Sign up here.
