The Metro: Fighting food waste with composting in metro Detroit
Two guests joined the show on Tuesday to discuss the various options available to metro Detroit residents looking to compost at home.
A group touring Spurt's compost facility in Wixom.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Spurt Industries
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About 30% of the food supply in the U.S. goes to waste, according to the USDA. Most of the time, food scraps end up in the sink or the garbage. But there’s something else you can do with your food scraps.
Depending on where you live, it might be a program in your city, something that’s similar to recycling or trash collection. We’re talking about composting — the process of turning old food and yard waste into nutrient-rich compost.
Bill Whitley is the president of Spurt Industries. His company manages a multi-city composting program that includes operating a large compost yard in Rochester Hills. Spurt was hired by a municipal corporation called the Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority (SOCRRA) that manages waste and recycling for 12 communities in Oakland County. The arrangement started March 31.
Michael Edwards is the CEO and co-founder of Midtown Composting. They’ve been operating a compost service in the Midtown neighborhood since 2015.
Whitley and Edwards both joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss the different options available to metro Detroit residents looking to compost at home.
We also asked listeners:
“What are you doing to get your garden beds ready? Does compost make it into the mix?”
John from Detroit said: “ I want to shout out to all my east side composters. We compost at Freedom Growers, we compost up at Sanctuary Farms, which is Mack and Lake View, and then the ECN, Eastside Community Network, has a composting situation there. And we are trying to convince the city to go with curbside composting sooner than later.”
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
More stories from The Metro on Tuesday, April 8:
- Detroit’s oldest choir has a new director
- Investigation probes unprecedented number of journalists killed in Gaza
- ‘Jazz-A-Bet’ book bridges music history and children’s literature
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
