ABSTRACT
The cost, ease, and effectiveness of implementing a composting program is affected by the method chosen for collecting the compost feedstock. Communities can select from a variety of collection systems to develop a composting program to meet their specific needs. Programs can be designed to collect just yard trimmings, or yard trimmings and MSW Collection can occur at curbside, where the municipality picks up the materials directly from households, or through drop-off sites, where residents and commercial producers deliver their compostable materials to a designated site. Most communities will want to build on their existing refuse collection infrastructure when implementing a composting program. This will ease the implementation of composting into a community's overall MSW management program and help contain costs. This chapter describes the advantages and disadvantages of various collection methods and examines some of the factors that decision-makers should consider when examining the applicability of different systems. Because collection is very different depending on whether yard trimmings, MSW, or both are being collected, this chapter is divided into two halves. The first portion of the chapter discusses yard trimmings collections; the second section focuses on source-separated and commingled MSW collections.
