Envisioning a Decentralized Compost System for Detroit: A Framework for Community-Scale Composting

Abstract Over the past decade, new businesses and non-profits have formed with missions focused on repurposing food scraps as a means to reduce carbon footprints, remediate environmental contamination, and create closed loop economies. City leaders are also becoming aware of the multiple benefits of composting, apparent in the 2013 Detroit Urban Agriculture Ordinance which recognizes composting as a legitimate land use and the 2019 Detroit Sustainability Action Agenda which includes an action item to “launch a residential composting pilot program.” This project builds upon efforts led by the non-profit FoodPLUS|Detroit to explore the context for establishing a citywide, community-scaled, decentralized…