Tullahoma Hopes To Turn ‘Garbage Into Gold’ With Free Composting Bins

One of the things the city of Tullahoma is proud of is its waste collection.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Middle Tennessee town touts its recycling program, which accounts for about a third of its waste. Now it’s adding another way to get rid of trash sustainably: composting. 

Annie Clements, a longtime Tullahoma resident, already sets aside organic waste like food scraps and plant trimmings to decompose, the process known as composting.

“Our trash is fairly clean. You could reach your hand in and grab something out of it without having to worry because we don’t throw anything yucky or drippy in there. It all goes into the compost bin,” she says.

Clements, who recently started a composting program at the nearby air force base, explains that her motivation to compost is largely environmental. When organic waste is thrown into a landfill, it releases methane, a harmful gas. When it’s allowed to compost naturally, it creates nutrient-rich fertilizer. 

But the city has an economic motivation to compost as well, city spokesman Winston Brooks says. Tullahoma has to pay $48 for every ton it throws away in a landfill. Even though the city is expecting to spend thousands of dollars on compost bins for its residents, the project should save Tullahoma money in the long run by not sending as much trash to a landfull, Brooks says. 

As part of its efforts to “turn garbage into gold,” as the city is marketing the program, it recently began offering free composting bins to any of its 18,000 residents.

The project is expected to start small. About 45 households have signed up for the bins so far — although public works director Wayne Limbaugh says he expects that number to grow as more people find out about it.