Food Scrap Drop-off

Do you wonder how you can reduce your impact on the environment? One way is to follow what many dedicated College Park residents are already doing – participate in the Food Scrap Drop Off Program. Since July 1, over 10 tons of food scraps have been diverted from the landfill. Thank you to all who participate.

Collecting food scraps and food soiled paper products is easy. When preparing meals, separate food scraps from other garbage to divert this organic material from regular household trash that is disposed of at the landfill. Food scraps that are collected separately are taken to the Prince George’s County Organics Compost facility for processing into a product that can be used for gardening projects.

Acceptable items: fruit and vegetable scraps; coffee grounds and tea leaves; dry goods - breads, pasta, nuts, rice and grains; dairy products, eggs and egg shells; meat, fish, poultry and bones – cooked or uncooked; food soiled paper products – napkins, paper towels, coffee filters, and tea bags.

Please DO NOT include plastic products of any kind, pet or human waste, diapers, clam or oyster shells, grease or fats, or ash from wood or charcoal.

Five-gallon food scrap buckets are still available at the Department of Public Works. Pick up during regular business hours (Mon-Fri 7:30 am to 4:00 pm). The buckets are useful to transport collected food scraps to the drop off locations.

Bring your food scraps to either Public Works, 9217 51st Avenue, College Park any time – 24/7, or Old Town Community Garden, Columbia Ave. between College Ave. and Norwich Rd. Empty contents loosely into the cart, or you can deposit the compostable bag full of food scraps (NO PLASTIC BAGS). For more information visit: https://www.collegeparkmd.gov/foodscraps.