Residential Food Waste Composting Starts August 1, 2022
Residential Food Waste Composting Starts August 1, 2022
Bourne- The Town of Bourne, Department of Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) is pleased to announce the commencement of its residential food waste collection program. Beginning on Monday, August 1, 2022, residents and property owners who have a sticker to access to the residential recycling center on MacArthur Boulevard will be able to bring food waste and scraps that will be collected in separate carts located by the guard shack.
Residents participating in the program will need to follow strict requirements to ensure that contamination is not put into the carts such as plastic bags, metal, glass, stickers, and paper products, especially those with chemicals such as baby wipes and disinfectant wipes. Paper and cardboard should be recycled instead. Compostable bags containing the waste can be put into the carts but they must be certified by an organization such as the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). In lieu of compostable bags, scraps can be placed in brown grocery bags or placed in the carts directly.
To participate in the program, residents should check in at the guard shack at the residential recycling center to receive a guide on what to collect and what contamination to avoid. While supplies last, ISWM staff will provide a starter roll of compostable bags to all who check in at the guard shack. Information will also be available at the ISWM website at townofbourne.com.
The carts will be serviced weekly by Black Earth Compost who will take the organic matter to one of their off-Cape compost sites where it will be combined with other organics to make quality soil products. Biosolids from sewage treatment facilities are not mixed with the organics at the compost sites and all compost is extensively tested with results posted on the company’s website, blackearthcompost.com.
Starting in Gloucester in 2011, Black Earth Compost collects organics from towns from Worcester east and into Rhode Island, including Falmouth. Material goes to one of three sites it manages in Framingham, Groton and Manchester-by-the-sea or to other sites approved by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protections (DEP).
“Food waste diversion is something that ISWM has been contemplating for a while with the Recycling Committee and we are pleased to partner with Black Earth Compost to offer this option to Bourne residents who have been asking for it”, said Dan Barrett, General Manager. “Food waste diversion and composting has been identified by the State and County as a key option to reduce the amount of solid waste that needs to be managed for disposal” continued Barrett. The County is currently looking at locations for a compost site on Cape Cod to reduce the distance traveled to manage organics and increase local usage of the soil products that are created through composting.