Bending the Arc

This past summer, the City of Sun Prairie launched a composting pilot program called, Food RESCU (residential, event, and school compost undertaking) Residential Composting Pilot. This 18-month pilot will provide 150 Sun Prairie households (renters included!) with a curbside composting service for a subsidized rate of $10/month. The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Sun Prairie a $109,000 grant for a pilot compost program. Read more here. 

All participating households will receive a 4-gallon bucket to collect food scraps. On a biweekly basis, Green Box Compost, the pilot's composting service provider, will stop by participating homes and swap full buckets for a clean bucket. Participating households will also receive finished compost twice throughout the pilot. In order for the city to gather valuable feedback on the success of the pilot, all participating households will be required to fill out feedback surveys twice during the pilot.

Since the start of the school year, September 2, Sustain Dane, in partnership with the City of Sun Prairie, Green Box Compost, and Sun Prairie School District, kicked off a school composting pilot program. Elementary students at Token Springs and Royal Oaks are now composting in their own cafeteria. The West High School kitchen production staff is diverting their food scraps to compost. In the first week, 365 pounds of food scraps were diverted from the landfill to Green Box Composting. The food scraps are composted into fertile compost that will be diverted to local agriculture and gardens. 

Maddie, a Senior from Sun Prairie West High School, supports the idea of composting and hopes it’s something the school can continue to do in the future. “We’re all so used to just throwing everything in the garbage, it will take time for students to learn how to properly separate their waste and to understand the benefits of keeping food out of landfills.”

The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes has begun exploring a similar pilot with the City of Fond du Lac and Green Box. They are now looking for businesses, schools, and residents to join their effort. Contact Tracy at tabler@csasisters.org for more information.