DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee hopes to have a compost program as part of the transfer station's services. 

 

The program's proposal demonstrated the composting has several benefits, including how it "enriches soil, conserves water, and reduces the use of fertilizers, all the while reducing methane gas emissions."

 

The committee has been working with Highway Superintendent Edward "Bud" Hall to help develop the program. 

 

They decided to base their program on the one in Williamstown. 

 

Residents would purchase compost buckets so the transfer station knows who uses the program. Once filled, residents bring the container back to the station, where the compostable material is placed in a shed and covered with sawdust in one of the two large vats. 

 

The compost would be collected by a composting company once a week, but frequency may need to be adjusted based on the actual volume and participation. 

 

The program would exclude animal litter, as it is considered toxic material.

 

The town will need to solicit bids from composting companies. The initial estimate is around $3,000 per year for 50 households, with potential savings for residents on their trash bills.

 

The proposal estimated that if the compost bin cost $25 and participants used three large blue bags each month, which cost $4 per bag, they would recoup their purchase within months and save $120 per year.

 

"In 2019, The Environmental Protection Agency reported that of the 70 million tons of food waste in the United States, only 5 percent was composted," the Green Committee's proposal states.

 

The waste sent to landfills produces methane gas, a greenhouse gas. 

 

Dalton's municipal solid waste is hauled to a landfill near the Canadian border in Morrisonville, N.Y., a roundtrip of about seven hours and 350 miles, the proposal said. 

 

The state Department of Environmental Protection has recommended a 30 percent reduction in municipal solid waste by 2030 compared to 2018 levels and a 90 percent reduction in solid waste.

 

"This requires municipalities to develop an organic waste program that diverts municipal solid waste from current solid waste programs," the proposal said. 

 

In other news: 

 

Green Committee member Antonio Pagliarulo also highlighted the town's bylaw requiring private waste haulers to separate recyclables from municipal solid waste. However, this bylaw has not been enforced. 

 

The committee agreed to add as an action item to work with haulers to enforce the existing bylaw.