Northeast Ohio’s public trash and recycling cans could soon be joined by compost bins if an Akron company gets its way.
Just before the pandemic, Ben McMillan started Rubber City Reuse to pick up food waste from restaurants and residences, then compost it for community gardens. Now, he’s rolling out a program to place compost bins in front of businesses.
“It’s no cost to the business. Right now we’re focusing on Akron, but we have our eyes on Wadsworth, Kent, North Canton, and Hudson to expand out – north, south, east, and west from Akron. We’d like to get one of these bins set up every week for the next couple months if we can.
“On the outside it’s wrapped in pretty pictures of juicy cherries or fruits or a table of veggies. It’s not only a great concept to divert these food scraps, but it’s also really cool because these are really good-looking bins.”
McMillan says they currently collect two tons of organic matter a week, and diverting that from a landfill is the equivalent of taking 25 cars off the road. He hopes to double that by next year with the new bins.
Information on obtaining a public compost bin is available here.
