Curbside compost collection will start Oct. 1 throughout Eugene.

But there will be no need for a new curbside container to take part in the program, said Michael Wisth, city of Eugene solid waste manager. Eugene residents who have residential garbage service will have the option to toss food waste in their yard debris bins instead of the garbage, at no extra charge.

"I'm really excited to roll this out," Wisth said. "It has been a long time coming and we are way overdue for it."

Eugene residents have long requested curbside composting, and the city recently tested it out among about 1,500 residents. Portland, Bend and other Oregon cities already have curbside composting. Each year Eugene sends about 40 million pounds of food waste into the landfill, according to the city. Officials didn't have an estimate yet as to how much the curbside compost project might collect.

Items OK for composting are plate scrapings, meat, bones, plant trimmings, solid dairy products, baked goods and kitchen trimmings, as well as egg, oyster and crab shells. Avocado pits also are acceptable. The food and food scraps should be thrown into the yard debris bin loose, not in a plastic or other bag.

Wisth, other city officials and waste haulers and processors stressed that curbside composting only would be for food and food by-products. So, service ware, paper plates and containers, as well as bags, are not acceptable even if they are designed to be compostable. Liquids, such as milk and cooking oils, should also be kept out of the curbside compost.

Focusing on food and food scraps will keep contaminants out of the compost, said Jack Hoeck, Rexius vice president of environmental services. The forest byproducts company will be handling some of the household food waste collected in the new program and took part in a test of the system.

"We are just trying to make it very simple and easy, so there is no confusion on what's acceptable," Hoeck said. "What I tell people is, 'If it's food and you can eat it, you can put it in there.' We don't eat the box. We don't eat the napkins. We don't eat the forks. We only eat the food. And the food is what you put in."

A city program for restaurants allows some items to be composted that aren't food, but city of Eugene Waste Prevention Analyst Deveron Musgrave emphasized the rules for homes. "The residential program is absolutely food only, no exceptions," Musgrave said.

Making curbside composting work in Eugene will require educating residents, said Aaron Donley, Sanipac accounts manager. The company, Royal Refuse and Lane Apex are the three main waste haulers in the city.

"Anytime you make a change in a program, items can get in there that aren't supposed to be in there," Donley said.

Royal Refuse will soon affix stickers to its yard debris carts, letting customers know that food "organics" are now acceptable, said Royal Refuse General Manager Josh Burnett. The goal is to keep unwanted items, such as forks and plates that are labeled compostable, out of the bins, he said.

Nonfood compostables are "great in theory, (but) terrible in practice," he said.

Hoeck, Donley and Burnett said the problem with compostable forks, plates and other nonfood items is that they confuse consumers. When a residential composting program accepts those items, then people start throwing in plastic forks and other trash. To avoid the additional labor it would take to sort through compost littered with silverware and plates, Eugene's program focuses on food.

"When it gets mixed together it's like trying to unscramble an egg, you can't hardly sort it out because it's so intertwined," Hoeck said. "It's economically not feasible to do that."

Waste haulers are bracing for more material in yard debris bins, but the impact of the new program will be minimal, Burnett said.

"It's really not going to change a whole lot for us because the existing yard debris container is going to be the same container that we (already) pick up," he said. "We're not going to have to run any additional trucks. We don't have to purchase any additional equipment."

Follow Dylan Darling on Twitter @DylanJDarling. Email dd@registerguard.com.