Cary Expands Food Waste Recycling with TZW’s Help

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Toward Zero Waste volunteer Kate Wood works a shift at the compost drop-off at Cary’s Citizen,s Convenience Center. Photo by Leigh Williams.

A local nonprofit is diverting waste from landfills—
one step (or banana peel) at a time

BY SAMANTHA CARSON

It was a cool February day in 2024 when Cary’s second food waste recycling drop-off site opened in Mills Park. The town’s first food waste recycling program had opened at the Citizen’s Convenience Center in 2022, and in February of 2023 the Town of Cary had announced that the program was so successful that it would become permanent. 

The Mills Park site represented the culmination of years of work between the Town of Cary and the nonprofit Toward Zero Waste (TZW) to reduce waste by diverting food scraps from the landfill back into the community. The program has since expanded its efforts into Raleigh as well.

Starting the Journey

It started on Facebook.

Residents Dargan Gilmore and Leigh Williams met in an international zero waste group on the social media site in 2016. Quickly discovering a mutual interest in reducing waste, they started a meetup group with one key difference from similar efforts: It emphasized the journey of moving toward a zero-waste lifestyle instead of trying to do everything at once.

Gilmore had been inspired by Bea Johnson’s book Zero Waste Home, but she found the idea of reducing a family’s trash to an amount fitting into a small jar impractical.

“I was like, ‘That’s incredible. I’ll never be able to do that,’” says Gilmore. “And I read the book, and I was like, ‘OK, I can make steps toward this.’ So Leigh and I were very careful when we named the organization. We wanted to make sure we had that ‘toward’ in it, because it is a journey for everybody.”

Williams and Gilmore started educating community members by holding meetings and setting up tables at local events, but they quickly found they needed a more organized approach. They initially started an LLC, but soon realized that a nonprofit fit their goals better—so they closed the business and opened the nonprofit in 2020. Since then, they have offered informationat numerous events, farmers markets and festivals in the Triangle; taught Zero Waste 101 classes and held events at local businesses.

Toward Zero Waste volunteers run an information booth at North Carolina State University's 2024 Earth Fair. Photo courtesy of Toward Zero Waste.

A Measurable Impact

Since its inception, TZW has had a measurable impact on the Triangle.

 

In 2019, waste characterization studies conducted by Wake County and the Town of Cary found that food waste comprised roughly 27% of the waste produced by single-family residents. In light of this finding, TZW helped Cary establish a food scrap recycling drop-off site at Citizen’s Convenience Center in 2022, then the Mills Park location in 2024. It also partnered with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and Midtown Farmers Market to establish drop-off sites in Raleigh.

 

The result has been an estimated 343,721 pounds of food waste diverted from our landfills as of January 2025, and an estimated 34,347 pounds of compost going to community partners like 

Good Hope Farm.

 

Nor are food scraps the only waste TZW is diverting. The organization’s Makers group meets every month to sew reusable shopping bags using donated scrap fabrics, which they provide for free to local businesses. They have made 1,055 bags as of January 2025, diverting more than 100 pounds of fabric from landfills.

 

Those recyclable cups offered in Downtown Cary Park? They’re also a result of TZW’s work. And TZW is currently working on a program to recover unopened food safely from school-provided lunches at some local schools to make it available to students.

 

Reducing Waste

Residents have many options to begin their own journeys toward zero waste.

 

Gilmore emphasizes the impact each person can have by composting. “I think the composting is huge—getting organic matter out of the landfill, finding a compost bin, learning how to compost in your backyard or finding compost pickup options—that’s something that can have a huge impact, not only on the landfill mass but on climate change,” she says. Diverting food waste from landfills greatly reduces methane emissions.

 

Kathleen Liebowitz, TZW’s executive director, says, “Supporting businesses that are doing the right thing for the earth [is key]. Put your money into the businesses that are taking the right steps.” She also recommends paying attention to the policies of local officials. “I’ve gotten to know my city council people, and having those relationships has made me feel more part of the community,” she says. “Sign up for their newsletters. See what they’re doing. Taking the time to get to know what’s going on is a way to help.” 

 

To learn more about Toward Zero Waste and how to start your journey, go to towardzerowaste.org

 
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