The City of Pittsburgh Office of Management and Budget, on behalf of the Department of City Planning, is requesting qualifications from businesses to provide organic waste pickup, storage, staging, education, outreach, composting or other processing services.

Pittsburgh has a long history with materials management highlighting its significance in the City's Climate Action Plan, Sustainable Development Goals, and Just Transition planning. In our efforts to increase diversion and strive for Zero Waste by 2030, we recognize the need for city-wide participation from all sectors to eliminate products that are destined for landfill and know the City has a unique role to play in ensuring the future of a circular economy is possible.

Organic waste (especially food and yard waste) is the largest contributor to US landfills, causing land use, labor, water, and air quality issues.  Solutions for organic waste offer great potential for positive regional change and achieving our Zero Waste goals; therefore, The City of Pittsburgh is soliciting proposals from qualified businesses to engage in food scrap, yard waste, and animal waste (dog and horse) material pickup, outreach, education, staging, redistribution, and/or processing services of various scales.

Removing organics from the waste stream would not only mean healthier land, food, water, and air; functionally, it could mean improving Public Works operations and advancing new opportunities throughout greater Pittsburgh. In an effort to make services such as composting, biodigestion, and biochar possible, the City of Pittsburgh is inviting businesses and non-profits to qualify for a pre-selection of vendors who meet the criteria listed under the Scope of Work and complete the mandatory Vendor Questionnaire.