DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee established a Compost Program subcommittee during its meeting on Wednesday night. 

 

The subcommittee is made up of three Green Committee members, Antonio Pagliarulo, Thomas Irwin and Todd Logan. 

 

They will also be staying in communication with Highway Superintendent Edward "Bud" Hall who runs the transfer station. 

 

The subcommittee will be responsible for spearheading the initiation of a compost program. 

 

Although members of the Green Committee agree a composting program is needed, they are split on the best type of program to establish. 

 

The program in Williamstown has 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 during a previous meeting. 

 

The Egremont's program was established 10 years ago and is gratis to the townspeople. 

 

Residents leave their compost at Egremont's compost station, which has three sections separated by concrete cubes. Every six months to a year, the compost is moved to a different section as it breaks down.  

 

At the end of the final year, residents can pick up the composted material, if they wish to do so.  

 

The committee has been mulling over establishing a composting program at the transfer station for a number of months and would like to expedite the process. 

 

The town has to submit a form to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection that includes an updated Transfer Station Certification and the town plan to add a composting program. Hall will work on the permit over the winter, Irwin said in a follow up. 

 

Without a subcommittee the program is "dead in the water," Pagliarulo said. 

 

According to Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson, the town is waiting for guidance from Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District but they are not aware of all the programs the town can replicate, Pagliarulo said.

 

Dalton is a member of Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District which is a collective of small municipalities in Northern Berkshire County that pool resources "to obtain professional waste management services to conduct recycling and public education programs, hazardous and special waste collection and waste facility development."

 

When speaking to NBSWD Program Director Linda Cernik she was unaware of the Compost Program at the Egremont Transfer Station, he said. 

 

The subcommittee will create a presentation for the Select Board to suggest the best program to replicate based on the town’s needs.