The metal canister on Highland Park resident Sara Hoffman's kitchen counter is small, but its contents pack a big olfactory wallop.

Inside are egg shells, coffee grounds and banana peels, all waiting to be placed in a bin outside and left on the curb to be hauled away to a composting facility as part of a program the city of Highland Park is expanding in 2013.

Years ago, curbside recycling changed the way people think about disposing of waste. Now, Highland Park officials are hoping curbside composting of food scraps has a similar effect.

"This is such an environmentally important program," said Ghida Neukirch, Highland Park's deputy city manager.

The curbside composting pilot program for a handful of residents has gone well enough that the city has decided to expand it, Neukirch said. Starting early in the new year, everyone in Highland Park will have the option of placing their food scraps in a curbside bin to be picked up by waste haulers.

Through March 31, the first 250 people who sign up can pay a reduced rate of $15. The city will subsidize the cost, while companies will provide free bins and bags. The free items and city subsidization will end for additional participants, who would pay $30. Collections will be every other Wednesday.

Then, from April 1 through Nov. 29, residents could participate as part of the city's regular landscape waste program, which allows residents to place composting materials curbside every week. The city's standard sticker and subscription fees will apply.

Highland Park has been at the forefront of curbside composting, said Lake County Commissioner Steven Mandel, a former Highland Park City Council member who helped oversee the pilot program.

"There was no other composting program in Lake County" when officials began considering it, Mandel said.

Other communities are starting to look into broadening food composting programs. Neighboring Deerfield is considering a new waste hauling franchise agreement for businesses, and some business owners who already have food composting contracts want to ensure they continue, officials have said.

Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal said the village has not yet looked into food composting for residents, but that's not to say the issue won't come up in the future.

For Hoffman in Highland Park, leaving food composting for pickup was a no-brainer.

"I think it's the right thing to do, so you reduce the waste stream into the landfill," she said.

She and her family already composted some food items — mostly vegetable scraps — on their own property. But Highland Park's program has broadened the array of items that can be kept out of a landfill.

"The cool thing about the program is they take all your food waste," she said. "You can put bones in there; you can put meat in there. Leftovers from the fridge that are becoming science experiments."

The program isn't perfect, Hoffman said. She found the free bags, which are compostable and can be used to line the curbside bin, were ineffective. She ended up purchasing her own. She also went back to using her own countertop container rather than the one that was provided with the pilot program.

But, she said, the good aspects outweigh the bad. Although she said curbside composting might take time to catch on, like recycling, it could eventually become second-nature.

jdanna@tribune.com