Local/Vermont

Composters look to expand

Published: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By Candace Page
The Associated Press

RANDOLPH CENTER -- With the fate of Vermont's only major compost operation balanced on a knife edge, 140 enthusiasts Tuesday brainstormed ways not just to save composting but to spread the practice to every family and business.

Several ideas surfaced again and again during small group sessions at the second annual Organics Recycling Summit hosted by Vermont Technical College. They included banning food wastes from landfills, providing financial incentives to help solid waste districts launch compost programs, and using schools to help change Americans' cultural distaste for handling household food waste.

"There are lots of opportunities to improve how we handle organic waste. We're trying to focus on the fact that there is underlying value to these materials," said Tom Gilbert of Highfields Institute in Hardwick, which mixes cow manure and food scraps from area restaurants in its compost piles.

Compost -- the conversion of food waste, yard trimmings and animal manure into odorless, nutrient-rich soil -- has become a hot topic in Chittenden County in recent months.

Up to 95 percent of Vermont's food waste was dumped in landfills in 2006, the last year for which figures are available. Virtually all of the 8,964 tons that was composted was disposed of at Intervale Compost, the Burlington nonprofit recycler.

Intervale announced last month it will close. Its parent, the Intervale Center, cannot afford the cost, as much as $375,000, of archeological studies needed to apply for an Act 250 land-use permit.

Chittenden Solid Waste District is considering whether to take over Intervale's operation, but it is not clear that state regulators will allow continued composting at the site or that CSWD will be willing to incur the expenses involved.

(In the meantime, Intervale continues to accept organic wastes and to sell compost to landscapers and home gardeners).

Money troubles

Some of Tuesday's discussion focused on bottom-line challenges to composting in a rural state.

In central Vermont, for example, the solid waste district is spending $240 a ton to pick up and compost food wastes from restaurants, schools and other institutions. That's higher than the cost of putting the waste in a landfill.

"Right now the big obstacles are economic," Gilbert said. Preparing a one-acre compost site to protect the environment and comply with state regulations can cost $15,000 to $50,000, he said.

In addition, state regulations discourage large composting operations, several participants said.

Middlebury farmer Robert Foster composts his cow manure along with about 100 tons of food waste from the area each year, then sells the compost. He has considered expanding, he said, but that would require him to apply for an Act 250 land-use permit -- an expense he is reluctant to incur.

A better system, he said, would be for the state to regulate water and air quality while local zoning boards handle traffic, historic preservation and the possible objections of some neighbors.

"We've got to weigh the societal benefits of composting against the concerns that some individuals feel," he said.

Going local

At other times, the meeting focused on the broader benefits of composting and the role it could play in local, sustainable agriculture. Participants sketched a utopia in which local waste was composted to grow local vegetables sold back to local residents.

"If I think about getting into the whole recycling thing in my town, I'd go right to the schools," said Heather Darby, a University of Vermont agronomist and Alburgh resident.

"You could go step-by-step. Maybe the kids recycle their banana peels from snacks" then get to see how waste turns into soil, she said. That could lead to composting of cafeteria food wastes.

"And the kids would shame their parents into trying it," added Brian Jerose of Enosburg.

Darby spends much of her time helping farmers learn how to manage waste nutrients in manure -- nutrients that can help grow crops but in excess can pollute Vermont waterways.

Household food wastes represent a similar resource -- and pollutant.

"We all have to say it's our responsibility to manage our nutrients," she said.

The meeting did not reach any conclusive list of recommendations. The Composting Association of Vermont, one of Tuesday's sponsors, this month will launch a series of meetings with state regulators, composters, solid waste officials and others to recommend ways to overhaul state compost regulations.

Contact Candace Page at 660-1865 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

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