Novi's food scrap composting pilot program, launched in June, is now accepting household food waste at two drop-off locations as the city's Environmental Sustainability Committee met Monday, July 27 to review early progress.
The program places four bright green 64-gallon bins at the Novi Civic Center, 45175 W. Ten Mile Road, available around the clock, and at MSU Tollgate Farm and Education Center, 28115 Meadowbrook Road, open dawn to dusk. My Green Michigan, a Wixom-based food waste recycling company, collects the bins weekly and transports scraps to a licensed composting facility.
The city estimates the pilot will divert roughly 26 tons of food waste from landfills annually. Council Member Gurumurthy calculated at the March 23 council meeting that four carts at 250 pounds each, collected 52 weeks a year, would avoid 80 to 95 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, roughly equal to removing 17 to 20 cars from the road for a year.
The program costs up to $10,000, funded through Recycling User Fee revenues with repayment to the Rubbish Fund, according to the city's composting program page.
"Starting small allows showcasing success and finding data to present later," Gurumurthy said at the March 23 council meeting when the pilot won approval.
What residents can drop off
Accepted materials include fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, bones, bread, grains, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags, napkins, and paper towels. Plastic, glass, metal, condiment packets, bleached paper products, and pet waste are not accepted.
Residents can participate without registering, though the city encourages sign-up through a Google Form on its program page at cityofnovi.org/trash/food-scrap-composting-program.
University of Michigan fellow joins sustainability work
The July 27 meeting also included a progress report from a University of Michigan Catalyst Leadership Circle Fellow assigned to Novi. The fellowship, run through U-M's Graham Sustainability Institute and supported by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, places graduate students with communities to advance climate and energy goals over a 10-week summer term.
Committee members first discussed bringing on a fellow at their February 9 meeting, when Project Engineer Rebecca Runkel said the student could help with presentations, outreach to other communities, and measuring the composting program's impact. The fellow's specific findings from the July 27 presentation have not yet been made public.
What's next
The committee, chaired by Council Member Smith and including Council Members Heintz and Gurumurthy with Assistant City Manager Danielle Mahoney as staff liaison, plans a formal evaluation of the composting pilot in November 2026. That review will assess participation numbers, contamination rates, and resident satisfaction.
A 2024 survey by the Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County found 87% of area respondents considered food waste diversion important, and 88% said they would use a curbside composting program if one were available.
Residents can find program details and sign up at cityofnovi.org/trash/food-scrap-composting-program.
