When Junel Jeffrey was a young girl raising money to participate in a beauty pageant, she started collecting cans to recycle them in exchange for cash. Her aim was to collect enough money to buy a gown to win a title and tiara, not to help save the environment.
However, today, the Eastland Gardens Washington, D.C., homeowner realizes that experience was just the start of her now 25-year commitment to recycling and composting.
“The first time I actually recycled on purpose was when I got stationed in Germany in 2000,” said Jeffrey, a Howard University graduate and soldier in the Army. “It’s the law of the land and it’s a way of life there. But when I first got there, it wasn’t a way of life for me. My landlord came to me and said, ‘Ms. Jeffrey, you can’t mix your trash like that.’ I had to do it then and it just became my way of life.”
For Jeffrey, intentionally recycling and composting have proven to be rewarding experiences.
“Now that I have added composting, what I find is that when you take all the living things out of your trash, your trash doesn’t smell,” she said. “I have not looked back.”
The District of Columbia Department of Public Works (DCDPW) is working to make both recycling and composting a way of life for D.C. renters and homeowners by enhancing its waste programs to divert 80% of waste from landfills and incineration by 2040.
In September 2023, DCDPW rolled out a 12-month pilot curbside composting program in the District, initially planning to enroll 1500 single-family households per ward or 12,000 residences to test food waste collection. Participants were provided with a free five-gallon bucket and 1.9-gallon kitchen caddy to place food scraps in for weekly pick up at their curb.
“D.C. gives you the full compost kit, including the bags to use, plus they give us back five pounds of compost to plant with,” said Jeffrey. “Food, vegetables, meat, leftovers I don’t use, I put them in the compost bin and scrape them into the bag. Once full, I put it in the container that D.C. gives and close it shut. I had about 11 people over for Thanksgiving, and after my dinner, I didn’t have much trash because it all went into the compost bucket.”
From September 2023 to November 2024, the Food Waste Collection program collected 2.6 million pounds or 1300 tons of compost. Of that amount, 110 tons were collected in Ward 7, and 38 tons in Ward 8, according to DCDPW.
No longer in an experimental stage, the program has transitioned into a robust Food Waste Collection program and is looking to attract more residents in more predominantly African American areas (such as Wards 5, 7 and 8) to participate following the pilot.
“We didn’t get the same level of participation from Wards 7 and 8,” said Office of Waste Diversion Program Manager John Johnson III. “Ward 7 had 10% of those enrolled in the pilot, roughly 900 households, while 3% were in Ward 8. One of the things we’re doing to increase enrollment from Wards 5, 7 and 8 is to provide opportunities for folks who do want to enroll by prioritizing one of the 200 slots we have from folks who have moved or opted out of continuing following the pilot.”
Benefits of Recycling and Composting
Recycling was also mandatory when Jeffrey was stationed in Italy and Korea, so by the time she returned to the U.S., she was completely on the wagon to reduce, recycle and reuse.
When she purchased her Ward 7 home in 2019, she added composting to her routine and immediately began recruiting others to recycle and opt in to the District’s free composting to decrease trash, rodents and dependence on energy.
“I don’t see why people aren’t hopping in on this,” said Jeffrey. “Racoons? I never have those problems. They go in our trash cans and what they want is no longer in there, so they move on.”
Plus, for Jeffrey, there are economic benefits to recycling and composting.
”You also save so much money on trash bags. The only things that go in my trash are things that are not recyclable – stuff that I clean my face with like cotton swabs, dirt from when I sweep the kitchen, and anything I clean with,” she told The Informer. “Other than that, everything else is divided between the compost bin and the recycle bin.”
More Technology, Less Trash
Starting in February, the D.C. Department of Public Works plans to install three to four smart composting bins throughout each ward. The bins will allow for residents to participate in food waste drop off 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Activated by Bluetooth technology, the bin opens automatically for residents to add food scraps.
“This is an intentional effort that we want people to opt in to,” said Johnson.
He also noted the new bins are convenient to those who don’t want composting buckets at their homes, and residents who are unable to do curbside composting because they live in apartments or condos.
“There is a keypad option for those who don’t have smartphones. This quadruples the number of food waste drop-off points,” Johnson explained.
The waste diversion program manager also noted that the ability for residents to drop off food scraps 24 hours a day is an added convenience, compared to the current weekend and farmers market drop-off points that exist under the District’s programs.
Further, Johnson said the technology of the new bins prevents rodents from entering the unit because it cannot be left open like a trashcan, and it reduces contamination.
Residents can still drop off compost at certain farmers markets throughout the city, in addition to the compost site in Deanwood in Ward 7, and Sycamore and Oak in Ward 8. In addition, DCDPW is hosting environmentally conscious programming for residents including the electronic collection waste program at RFK stadium on Feb. 1 and the Christmas tree mulch program’s final pick up for residences will be on Feb. 28.
Long-time Ward 7 senior resident and environmental advocate Zandra Chestnut is part of the curbside compost program and also visits the drop-off point on Saturdays across the street from First Baptist Church of Deanwood.
As a 10-year composter who recently cultivated a heap in her yard to create a crop of homegrown tomatoes, Chestnut said DCDPW’s composting techniques are not traditional but she’s still happy the effort is being prioritized.
“Their composting is different from mine, because I don’t put meat in mine; I just put in vegetables, egg shells, items like that,” said Chestnut, whose neighbors on each side of her also compost.
Chestnut told The Informer she’s looking forward to the rollout of the Bluetooth bins because she’s concerned about unsanitary conditions when dropping off food scraps.
“They do not have hand sanitizer to make people feel comfortable after they come to dump their stuff,” Chestnut said. “You go from the bins to your car steering wheel. That new container will make me feel a lot safer.”
To learn more about existing food drop-off sites and how to recycle and compost, go to zerowaste.dc.gov.