Knoxville residents and downtown restaurants can now drop off their food scraps to be composted through the Knoxville Compost Pilot Project. 

“This project responds to demands in our community to limit the amount of waste sent to our landfills and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” says City of Knoxville Waste and Resources Manager Patience Melnik. “Not all residents want to—or are able to—maintain their own backyard compost. But by participating in the Knoxville Compost Pilot Project, they can keep food scraps out of the landfill while repurposing that material into healthy soil to grow local produce.”

Watch these three short videos introducing and explaining the project: 


The project’s food-scrap collection site is located at the City's Recycling Center in the Old City (227 Willow Avenue). 

These are the only items currently accepted in the compost project:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Coffee Grounds
• Paper Coffee Filters
• Eggshells
• Nut Shells

To access the compost bins, participants must take a quiz to identify the dos and don’ts of composting. Complete the quiz and receive the combination for the bins’ locks. Dump your acceptable scraps, lock the bins, and you’re done. 

Full bins of compostable items will be delivered to nonprofit project partner Battlefield Farm. There, the food scraps will break down in a composter designed and built by City Possum Farm with funding from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. After several months, the finished compost will provide important nutrients to the soil. 

For more information, visit https://KnoxvilleTN.gov/compost.