Broken down, 21% of that includes food waste, followed by paper at 15% and yard waste at 8% — meaning nearly half of that garbage could instead be composted. For each ton of food waste the organization keeps out of landfills, NOPE donates one 40-pound bag of finished compost to clients to use in gardens and landscaping. × Expand Martez Smith, a collection driver for NOPE Compost Co., picks up food waste from a disposal site. David Donaldson, manager of the Rethink Waste program at UR, brought NOPE to campus in 2020, eventually relying on its services for marquee events, including graduation. “We were getting a lot of requests from residents about a food waste collection program,” says Kim Hynes, executive director of CVWMA.