Worthington Approves Curbside Food Scrap Pickup on 4-3 Vote
A five-year Compost Exchange deal covering every household is cleared to start in January, though staff warned the 2027 budget has no money for it yet.
Worthington will pay for curbside food scrap collection at every home in the city. City Council passed Ordinance 30-2026 on a 4-3 vote Monday, October 19, as the clerk's post-meeting report shows. Pete Bucher, Rachael Dorothy, Amy Lloyd and Glen Pratt voted yes. Joycelyn Dong, Rebecca Hermann and Maria Ramirez voted no.
The ordinance directs the city manager to sign a deal with The Compost Exchange, registered as TCE Columbus LLC, at $3.28 per household each month. The contract term opens January 1, 2027, and closes December 31, 2031. Because the city covers the bill, residents will not need to buy their own subscription.
Council went against its own staff. An October 14 memo in the meeting packet, signed by City Manager Robyn Stewart and John Moorehead, who heads Service and Engineering, asked members to defeat the measure since the proposed 2027 operating budget shown on October 12 leaves the program out. The memo prices the service at $207,000 per year, or $1,035,000 across the full term. SWACO, the regional solid waste authority, has promised as much as $100,000 if the city keeps the program for five years, and the $12,000 Worthington spends today on a food waste drop-off at its Recycling Convenience Center would be absorbed into the new deal.
The same memo lists possible ways to cover the gap: spend down General Fund balance, leave the Social Services Coordinator job part-time for a savings near $95,000, use $500,000 in one-time 2026 housing money that has no project yet, push back Selby Shelter House renovations as Pratt proposed, or shrink a planned first-floor remodel at the Municipal Building. Staff wrote that no option keeps the service funded past year five. Departmental budget talks took place that night with no vote, so the funding choice is still ahead.
Pickup details come from earlier discussion. The June 8 minutes, which Council approved Monday, record Moorehead describing the city-paid version as a Friday collection on the same day as trash, recycling and yard waste. He also told members that about 4 percent of households paid for a private compost route as of January.
For Worthington residents, the practical change arrives with the new year: food scraps can be set out for pickup without a signup fee, and households now paying for a private route can weigh whether to keep it. Under the city's notice of passage, posted October 21, the ordinance takes effect November 11, 2026. We laid out the bids and the SWACO offer before the vote in this preview. The Worthington page gathers other suburb news, and the City section tracks votes across the region.
