After a successful pilot project the Municipality of Anchorage will officially begin a new Community Composting Program.


Solid Waste Services (SWS) has 1,000 buckets to give out to people who want to participate. People can save their food scraps — coffee grounds, eggshells, fruit and vegetable peels — then trade them in for compost.


SWS estimates each person in Anchorage produces up to a ton of trash every year. Recycling coordinator Travis Smith said it’s important to divert everything we can from the landfill.


“Our landfill is scheduled to close around 2050 and that’s really not that long away,” Smith said. “So making sure we conserve that landfill and that resource for future generations is important because it’s really expensive to build a new landfill.”


People can enroll in the composting program on Sunday, May 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Central Transfer Station located at East 54th Avenue and Juneau Street.


Food scraps can be traded in for compost at the Anchorage Regional Landfill. Those not participating in the program can still drop off food scraps at the Central Transfer Station, which does not have any compost to hand out.