Beginning Oct. 1, the City and County of Honolulu will ask all Oʻahu residents using gray, blue and green bins to put all their food scraps — be it banana peels, chicken bones or plate lunches past their prime — in the green bin.
That way, they can be processed into compost instead of being burned.
It’s part of a new composting program called G.R.O.W., or Green Recycling Organic Waste.
The city’s Department of Environmental Services director, Roger Babcock, spoke with HPR about how it builds off of a previous pilot program and how residents can participate.
As Babcock explained, there are two easy tricks to remember what kinds of food can be composted:
- Include the food. “Things that are food, human food. So not dog food, not pet waste,” he clarified. And no liquids — but semi-solids like yogurt are fine.
- If it grows, it goes. In other words, plants, meat, bones and shells — “eggshells, nut shells, seafood shells” — all qualify.
The G.R.O.W. program is built off of a pilot program that was initiated with six communities on Oʻahu: Waipahu, Nānākuli, Hawai‘i Kai, Mililani, Kailua and Kalihi.
Babcock hopes that with the program expanding across Oʻahu, more residents will be encouraged to separate their food waste and, in doing so, help address the island’s ongoing issues with waste and landfill space.
Surveys so far have shown a lack of participation in separating food waste, so residents are urged to take advantage of the program.
“We have inspectors … and they looked at 1,027 carts during this time period in those different neighborhoods. And what they found is a 15% participation rate,” Babcock explained.
“That's not good. We need 100%. … We need to get whatever we can do.”
Babcock also encourages residents to take a look at the other resources available on the website. There are reminders of what can be recycled in the blue bin — including glass, plastic and aluminum containers and newspapers.
For more tips on what to put in the green bin, check the city’s website here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 30, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
