Food Composting Canned in Highland Park

This week was the last time—for now anyway—that Highland Park residents could participate in the curbside food scrap collection and composting program that got only underway in January.

Nu-Earth Organics, a composting facility in Waukegan, has stopped accepting food scraps from communities including Highland Park in light of complaints about the stench from nearby residents, reports the Chicago Tribune.

The Lake County News-Sun reported last July that Park City residents had complained to their city council about the offensive odor and Nu-Earth owners promised to investigate.

Highland Park officials have said the city's composting program will be on hold until another option is found. However, it's likely the City of Waukegan will amend Nu-Earth's conditional use permit to prohibit composting food scraps, according to the Tribune.