Lions Club to pilot compostable plates at Riverside chicken dinner; organizers plan collection with local composting service

Bob Finn, a Riverside resident representing the Lions Club, told the Board of Trustees on March 11 that the club will introduce compostable dinner plates at its annual chicken dinner as a trial to reduce landfill waste and to educate attendees about composting.

“We are going to introduce compostable plates and... we're only gonna do the dinner plates,” Finn said. He described a collection plan in which diners will deposit used plates, food scraps and bones into five-gallon buckets; volunteers will then transfer them to Riverside Foods or have a commercial partner, Waste Not, pick them up for composting in Chicago.

Finn said the club expects roughly 200 in-house meals and that takeout orders will likely remain on conventional packaging because most residents do not have composting at home and takeout items would otherwise enter the trash. He emphasized the pilot nature of the initiative: if the collection buckets fill and additional waste remains, the extra items would go to regular garbage.

Trustees asked logistical questions about sourcing plates, transport and the need for maintenance staff to help manage disposal. Finn noted options for buying compostable plates locally or online and said Riverside Foods and Waste Not were the primary collection partners he had identified.

No board action was required; trustees expressed support for the pilot and asked Finn to provide contact information so staff could coordinate operational details and maintenance support on the event day.