The Gary department of sustainability on Nov. 6 asked the finance committee to accept a $317,840 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to demonstrate household food-waste composting.

The department said the grant would fund training, purchase compost bins, and support data collection for approximately 100 households, with the program designed to test approaches, record best practices and potentially market the finished compost for community use. "We will buy the compost bins. We will provide the training to attract the data, and we will find best practices," the presenter said.

Officials said the program was originally targeted to the 4th District but was expanded using additional local money to be available citywide while prioritizing 50 households in the 4th District. Staff said the program could produce compost useful for local gardening and green-space projects and that they are pursuing complementary funding and partnerships with regional organizations.

Next steps: council expressed general support and asked staff to finalize fund accounting so the grant can be accepted by the council in the forthcoming ordinance series.