Jacksonville City Council has approved a new six-month pilot program to encourage and test the efficacy of commercial composting, through partnership with local composting facility Sunshine Organics and Compost.

The goal of the program is not to start a new city-operated compost collection but to encourage and normalize composting as a waste management alternative. The city has almost no financial obligation to the program. After six months, its role will end, leaving future composting endeavors to private businesses.

“It’s a process of getting composting in the minds of the citizens of Jacksonville and seeing how the process works,” Ron Salem, council member and sponsor of the bill, said.

Read the rest of this story at the Florida Times-Union, a Jacksonville Today news partner.