Kent County, Michigan, residents now have a new option to help reduce landfill waste in their communities.
The Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW) debuted drop-off containers for food scraps that are available for free to Kent County residents, allowing them to drop off materials like fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and compostable containers, which will be picked up and turned into compost. The service is meant to encourage composting and help Kent County send less waste to landfills.
“In Michigan, over 30 percent of the material that ends up in our state’s landfills is made up of organic waste,” said Matt McPherson, marketing and communications manager for the DPW. “Our new Residential Food Scrap Drop-Off Program provides an accessible way for anyone in our community to divert food scraps from landfills and reduce waste.”
Residents can sign up to use the containers by downloading the free metroKEY app and registering. After signing up, residents can bring food scraps to one of the four containers and use the app to unlock the container and dump in their materials. A full list of accepted materials is available on the DPW’s website and is also displayed on the containers.
“The DPW is providing this free program to remove barriers to composting and make participation as simple as possible,” said Kris Pachla, Kent County commissioner. “By using these free containers, residents will help to reduce landfill waste and create a more sustainable future for our community.”
The DPW has containers in two locations:
- Kent County Recycling & Education Center, 977 Wealthy St. SW in Grand Rapids
- North Kent Recycling & Waste Center, 2908 10 Mile Road NE in Rockford
Kent County residents can also pick up a 1.5 or 2.5 gallon bucket from the Recycling & Education Center to collect materials at home.
The city of Grand Rapids will soon offer a similar program for city residents. The addition of DPW’s containers makes drop-off available to any county resident.
Published June 2026
