West Cleveland News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted an award to the City of Cleveland in support of scalable waste management plans aimed at reducing and diverting food waste from landfills. This award forms part of the USDA's $11.5 million investment in cooperative agreements.

According to a City of Cleveland press release, Mayor Justin M. Bbb stated, "Food waste is the single most common material in our landfills and is responsible for significant methane emissions. The more we can divert out of the waste stream, the better for our people and our environment."

The same press release indicates that the grant will aid the city in expanding drop-off residential composting locations, increasing waste diversion and access to composting services, and providing subsidized monthly subscriptions to composting services for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-eligible households.

Local partners in this initiative include Rust Belt Riders, Rid-All Green Partnership, and the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District. Rust Belt Riders is an employee-owned, Cleveland-based commercial and residential composting small business that has been partnering with Rid-All—an urban farm in the Kinsman neighborhood—for the past year to compost food waste from West Side Market. The Hunger Network also partners with them for distributing still-edible produce to pantries and those in need.

According to another City of Cleveland press release, funds from the American Rescue Plan Act support these Composting and Food Waste Reduction cooperative agreements as part of USDA’s broader support for urban agriculture. The program is jointly administered by USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). These projects are set to be implemented through 2026.