Second Chance Composting has Moved and Expanded

A new hopper and rotating screener has more than quadrupled the amount of material that can be processed in an hour. 

SAVOY, Mass. — Second Chance Composting recently expanded and relocated.

The composting company used to be in Cheshire but moved to 96 Main Road in Savoy in March.

"We're operating full scale out of here. So all the material, all the food scraps that we pick up and haul, we bring here, and then we mix them with material. So kind of the real big benefit to the community here is that this is a place where homeowners can bring their leaves for free," said owner John Pitroff.

Second Chance also partners with landscaping companies which can drop off loads of leaves and wood chips to be put to good use. Residents can also drop off scraps if they are signed up for the program.

Pitroff said he hopes this will benefit everyone.

"If we can help them save some of their waste products and do it in affordable or free way for them, I think it benefits everybody, right, benefits them, benefits us, and it benefits the community, because then we can use it, create this stuff that can go out, create the compost going to be used again," he said. "So that was kind of my goal, make this a little bit more of a community hub for those types of things." 

He said the new space is bigger and more community friendly in access.

"We've scaled up as far as, like, the amount of room we have, and at the other location, it wasn't as open to the community as this," he said, and that the next big milestone and is getting the processed compost into stores.

"I'm working on my plan for next year. I'm currently working on a better, more efficient bagging system. But I work with a lot of places ... and my plan is to go into those places and say, 'Hey, would you carry our product.'"

Compost is sold at $89 a cubic yard and for $14.99 in 20-quart bags. The material is subjected to high temperatures during processing to meet federal standards to reduce any possible pathogens with end product a rich, dark soil. The company also sells mulch by the cubic yard and 20-quart bag. 

Second Chance Composting recently expanded its Residential Community Composting Program to 11 locations in the Berkshires. The program runs all year long and Pitroff sees its expansion as making it more convenient for county residents to find composting drop-offs closer to their home or work.

A mechanized rotary compost screener purchased through a grant helps move material through the process faster. The company received a $100,000 Recycling and Reuse Business Development Grant from the Department of Environmental Protection last year. 

"We didn't have that before, we were doing it by hand," Pitroff said of turning and screening the material. "So this can do anywhere from eight to 10 yards an hour, by hand I could do one yard probably every two hours. So this is huge for us," he said.

Second Chance Composting has composted more than 1.2 million pounds of food scraps and other organic materials since opening.

Memberships start at $9.99 per month with an annual fee. Any and all food scraps are accepted and members can drop off as many times as needed a month. Customers can also sign up to receive compost back.

Find out more on the website.

Freight Yard Pub Serving the Community for Decades

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:26PM / Saturday, December 06, 2025

One of the eatery's menu mainstays is the popular French onion soup. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Freight Yard Pub has been serving the community for decades with a welcoming atmosphere and homemade food.

 

Siblings Sean and Colleen Taylor are the owners Freight Yard Pub. They took it over with their brother Kevin and Colleen's first husband in 1992. The two came from Connecticut and Boston to establish a restaurant and said they immediately felt welcomed in their new home.

 

"The reception that the community gave us in the beginning was so warm and so welcoming that we knew we found home," Colleen Taylors said. "We've made this area our homes since then, as a matter of fact, all of our friends and relationships came out of Freight Yard Pub."

 

The pub is located in Western Gateway Heritage State Park, and its decor is appropriately train-themed, as the building it's in used to be part of the freight yard, but it also has an Irish pub feel. It is the only original tenant still operating in the largely vacant park. The Taylors purchased the business after it had several years of instability and closures; they have run it successfully for more than three decades.

 

Colleen and Sean have been working together since they were teenagers. They have operated a few restaurants, including the former Taylor's on Holden Street, and currently operate takeout restaurant Craft Food Barn, Trail House Kitchen & Bar and Berkshire Catering Co., operating as Bay State Hospitality Group. Over the weekend, it was announced they would take over management of the historic Store at Five Corners in Williamstown.

 

"Sean and I've been working together. Gosh, I think since we were 16, and we have a wonderful business relationship, where I know what I cover, he knows what he covers," she said. "We chat every single day, literally every day we have a morning phone call to say, OK, checking in."

 

The two enjoy being a part of the community and making sure to lend a hand to those who made them feel so welcome in the first place.