Dalton Green Committee Discusses Getting Compost Program

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:42AM / Monday, October 09, 2023Print Story | Email Story

DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee is mulling the potential of a composting program at the transfer station.

The program would allow residents to bring organic compost to the transfer station without charge.

The compost station would have three sections separated by concrete cubes. Every six months to a year, the compost would be moved to a different section as it breaks down, committee member Antonio Pagliarulo said.

Pagliarulo and committee member Thomas Irwin visited the Egremont Transfer Station to inform Dalton's proposed program.

"It's gratis to the townspeople of Egremont. They leave their compost, and then at the final year, they pick up what they wish to take home. Very simple, very straightforward," Pagliarulo said.

Egremont's program was established 10 years ago before all the permitting, he said. Now there is a lot more state Department of Environmental Protection involvement so Dalton has to navigate through a lot more permitting.

After speaking with various organizations, Pagliarulo realized that other than Williamstown, Egremont is the only town in Berkshire County that has a composting program for kitchen scraps.

In Williamstown, residents purchase buckets so that the transfer station knows who is using the program. They bring filled buckets to the transfer station where the compostable material is put into one of the two large vats in a shed and covered with sawdust. The compost is collected two times a week.

"That's a more costly system. That is in a pilot program now with 75 families," Pagliarulo said.

Williamstown Composts won't know the actual cost of the program until the end of the calendar year but will keep Pagliarulo up to date on that.

The Center for EcoTechnology sent Pagliarulo all the information and forms needed to have it consult during this process.

Pagliarulo will share this with the committee and continue to discuss the program with Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson and Highway Superintendent Edward "Bud" Hall. Hall runs the transfer station.

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Historic Wahconah Park Grandstand Almost Leveled

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:35PM / Wednesday, September 16, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — If you want to catch a last glimpse of the remaining Wahconah Park grandstand, you need to hurry.

The historic grandstand is currently being demolished, with only a couple of the major structures remaining. Pittsfield is also working on what comes next for the park, and how baseball will return next year.

Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath said if people want to see the last of the structure, they should head down by the end of this week because "by Thursday or Friday it probably will entirely be down."

"It's moving quickly now that they're into the active demo phase," he told the Parks Commission on Tuesday.

"…Certainly, I think by the end of September we'll see cleanup and, if you will, the big hole where the stadium sat. That all will be filled to grade."

The more than 75-year-old structure was deemed unsafe in 2022, and planners determined that starting from square one is the best option.

On Sept. 3, the Conservation Commission issued 36 orders of conditions for the reconstruction of the ballpark.

Conservation Agent Shannon Poulin pointed out that the application has gone through many revisions; reconstruction cannot begin until a certificate of compliance for the demolition is issued.

The project crew will have an on-site meeting on Friday morning and consider two avenues of revitalization: The funding, last estimated around $15 million, and a financial strategy coming together through the mayor so that Pittsfield can move into an active build next year, or a longer process where the field is utilized before a new grandstand is built.

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