Second Chance Composting Offers Food, Organic Waste Disposal

John Pitroff, owner of Second Chance Composting, composts for his personal garden. He said this is like a smaller-scale of what he does at Second Chance's 14-acre facility in Vermont.

ADAMS, Mass. — Second Chance Composting hopes to offer everyone in the Northern Berkshires and Southern Vermont the chance to properly dispose of food and organic waste. 

Second Chance picks up food scraps and other organic matter and processes it into compost at its facility in Stamford, Vt. It provides service in Adams, Clarksburg, North Adams, Williamstown, Southern Vermont, and other parts of the Berkshires. 

"We collect manure from different places, we collect sawdust, we collect woodchips, we collect leaves, we collect yard debris," said John Pitroff, a North Adams native and owner of Second Chance Composting. "We work with landscape companies, tree companies, some farms; like we've taken manure from people. We're willing to work with anybody." 

Currently, Second Chance offers pickup bins to haul food scraps on a commercial scale for restaurants, schools, hotels, businesses and events. The organization also started a community composting program this year, which will work with local organizations in several communities to provide scrap drop-off locations for residents at a cost of $2.30 per week. 

In Adams, Second Chance has partnered with the Old Stone Mill, which works on several waste-reducing and upcycling initiatives. In Williamstown, Pitroff is working with Wild Soul River. 

"You come as much as you need to or as little as you need, you drop them off, and then you go about your day," he said. 

While Second Chance had previously offered residential pickup, Pitroff said the composting program should be more convenient, involve less travel and gas use, and allow more people to get involved. 

"We want to make it accessible financially and accessible as far as convenience, too," he said.  

In addition to the composting, Pitroff said the service wants to do more community outreach and events to teach people about the business and composting in general. Last year, Second Chance worked with the North Adams Farmers Market.

"We offered a free drop-off spot for people every week. That was kind of our first thing in the community to let people know," he said. "We're big on community. We're trying to connect."

Second Chance also hosted a pumpkin-smashing event in North Adams last Halloween, which he said went well.

"It was fun for us, it was fun for the kids, the adults had fun. We got something out of it in terms of material, it was a community event," he said. "That's what we're about." 

The town of Adams is hosting a ribbon cutting for the business at 3 p.m. on Monday as Pitroff and the business recently moved to Adams. Those interested in Second Chance Composting can learn more here.

St. Stan's Students Get Crash Course in Accident Reconstruction

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
01:09PM / Tuesday, May 28, 2024

ADAMS, Mass. — State Troopers Kyle Cahoon and Sean Curley, members of the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section (CARS) Unit, met with St. Stanislaus Kostka middle school students to provide an in-depth look into the process and science behind accident reconstruction.

 

On Friday, May 17, the troopers showed students how they determine the causes of vehicular crashes and identify who may be at fault. Curley said CARS is not called to every accident but only the worst of the worst that conclude in severe injury, death, or considerable property damage.

 

"If we have a real bad crash where somebody is likely not to make it, that's when we get a phone call," he said. "The officer on the road will realize that this is a very, very serious crash, and it might be outside of his scope of what he does. He'll call the State Police."

 

He added that there are four CARS units across the state, but theirs covers the largest distance in Western Mass — from Worcester to Berkshire County.

 

"So, there are response times for us that are a long time," he said. "I have driven for almost two hours with my lights and sirens on."

 

According to Cahoon, there are three common elements that contribute to a crash: the driver, the vehicle, and the environment. He emphasized that accidents are rarely caused solely by vehicles. Instead, human factors, such as driver distraction or adverse road conditions, are typically the primary causes of accidents.

 

"It's not typically just an accident," Cahoon said. "Like they might be speeding and not paying attention, they might be on their cell phone when they shouldn't be. Ninety-nine percent of crashes we investigate are not accidents."