Curbside compost pickups will launch soon in 2 RI communities. Here's how it will work.
Article written by Alex Kuffner of the Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE – Curious about composting, but you don’t want to do it in your backyard?
If you live in Bristol or Barrington, you’ll soon have the chance to put your food scraps out for pickup as part of new programs created by the towns.
The two East Bay communities are the first in the state to experiment with municipal curbside composting services.
They’re partnering with the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District and a private composting company on a two-year pilot program that’s set to begin collections Sept. 18. Residents must sign up to participate. They’ll be able to put a bin with their food waste out for collection every week alongside their regular trash cans and recycling bins.
The towns are using grant money from 11th Hour Racing to offer discounted rates for households that sign on to the pickup service that will be operated by Massachusetts-based Black Earth Compost.
Efforts come amid larger efforts to reduce food waste
The creation of the programs comes amid growing awareness about the problems posed by food waste, which contributes to climate change by producing planet-warming methane emissions when it breaks down in landfills and also costs cities and towns money that have to pay more on disposal charges.
“Trash is heavy and food waste is always the heaviest part,” said Stella Piasecki, compost program coordinator with the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District. “If we are diverting that, it makes a huge difference, especially when you have a large number of people doing it.”
Compostable material generally makes up about a third of all municipal solid waste. It’s estimated that each household that takes part in the new programs will divert 1,980 pounds from the Central Landfill in Johnston each year. With 500 households, that totals 990,000 pounds, or 495 tons.
The hope, said Piasecki, is that the towns will reduce the amount of garbage they send to the landfill and pay less on the facility’s tipping fee, which currently stands at $63 a ton. The towns could then potentially channel the savings into continuing the composting services after the pilot ends at no or reduced cost to residents.
“We hope they’ll see a reduction in costs on municipal trash and then be able to reallocate those funds,” Piasecki said.
How the new composting programs work
The programs are structured to give the biggest discounts to the first 500 residents in each town to sign up. Customers will get a 66% discount on Black Earth Compost’s fees in the first year and a 33% discount in the second year.
That works out a little differently in each town. Black Earth Compost is taking over an existing service operated by another company in Bristol and is honoring its lower fees.
So with the discount, residents who sign up for the municipal program in Bristol will pay $50 in the first year and $99.99 in the second year and get for free a compost bin and compostable liners valued at $36. Enrollment is open now and can be done online at blackearthcompost.com/bristol. Any customers who sign up beyond the first 500 will get a smaller rebate and pay $139.99 a year.
In Barrington, participants will pay $66.66 in the first year and $133.33 in the second year and also get a free bin and liners. The sign-up form for the town is at blackearthcompost.com/barrington. The standard rate will also be lowered, to $149.99 a year, for any customers who enroll after the first 500.
Participating households will get one cubic-foot bag of compost each spring at no additional cost as well as discounts on more if they want.
While curbside services probably won’t give you the same returns in finished compost as if you do it in your yard, they are more convenient, especially if you live in an apartment or have a smaller property.
They also often allow more material to be composted than backyard operations. The Barrington and Bristol programs won’t just accept fruit and vegetable waste but also meat, bones, dairy, used napkins and paper towels and compostable serviceware.
Curbside composting becoming more common
San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, have mandatory composting programs. New York City just implemented a municipal curbside service this past spring.
While Providence has a drop-off program and Barrington does, too (at the Barrington Farm School on Federal Road), the only curbside programs in Rhode Island are offered by private companies.
The Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District has been working to expand composting in the state. It was one of the partners on a statewide composting effort that was to be funded through an $18.7 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but the Trump administration rescinded the grant award as part of its policy of slashing federal spending.
Piasecki said that 11th Hour Racing awarded Bristol $150,000 and Barrington $215,000 for their pilot programs. The money is not only subsidizing fees but will also pay for community awareness events around composting.
Newport recently got the go-ahead to start a curbside program, too.
“We're trying to get as many Rhode Islanders composting as possible,” Piasecki said. “That's our goal right now.”