The City of Avon Lake partners with Rust Belt Riders neighborhood food scrap drop-off program to help reduce the amount of waste sent to local landfills and reduce harmful methane emissions. Joining the program is an easy way residents can make a positive impact on our planet.
Composting meat, dairy, bones, cooked food, and paper products at home is restricted, but Rust Belt Riders can compost all of these items for you using a thermophilic composting system. Rust Belt Riders’ service also eliminates common challenges of home compost piles, including unpleasant odors, pests, flies and other bugs that can be hard to deal with, and maintenance of proper levels of moisture and heat.
No stress, less mess.
Join the program
For $12 a month, Rust Belt Riders takes your compostable waste and transforms it into nutrient-rich compost, which enriches soil, helps retain moisture, reduces the need for fertilizers, and helps plants grow.
- Sign up on the Rust Belt Riders website. Members get access to support via website chat, discounts on soil products, and access to sustainability workshops.
- Once you have signed up for the program you will receive a 4-digit access code that you can use to unlock the collection bins located at the Avon Lake Service Department, 750 Avon Belden Road. These collection bins are available 24/7/365. Rust Belt Riders empties the bins on Fridays.
Rust Belt Riders recommends using a 5-gallon bucket lined with a brown paper bag to collect your scraps. Rust Belt Riders buckets and bags can be purchased at any Phoenix Coffee location.
What can I compost?
Rustbelt Riders maintains a complete list of acceptable and unacceptable items for the composting program on their website. Questions? Review their FAQ page to learn more or email support@rustbeltriders.com.
Did you know?
- More than 40% of food ends up in landfills where it rots and emits methane. Methane is a primary contributor to the formation of greenhouse gas and ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant. Properly composting food scraps prevents methane from being released with the introduction of water, oxygen, and carbon in the form of wood chips or leaves. By composting, we can substantially reduce harmful methane emissions.
- Removing compostable materials from the landfills leaves more space for the disposal of materials that cannot otherwise be processed, recycled, or reclaimed, which lengthens the useful, effective lifetime of the landfill facility.
The locking containers for compost drop-off are located near the mulch piles at the Avon Lake Service Department located at 750 Avon Belden. These bins are available 24/7/365 so composting program members can drop off food scraps at their convenience.