BRATTLEBORO — Michelle Cherrier, chair of the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD), recently announced that the district was awarded a grant of $276,942 from the (1)Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) Organics Infrastructure grant program.
It will be used to support expansion of WSWMD's food and organics composting facility.
“This grant will enable us to construct a larger capacity composting facility to recycle the increasing tons of food scraps that residents, institutions, and businesses are diverting from landfill disposal” she said in a news release.
This grant is in addition to a grant of $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and an appropriation of $225,000 from the district for a project estimated to cost over $700,000.
Due largely to Vermont's mandate in Act 148 that food scraps and yard debris should not be disposed of in landfills or incinerators, the total quantity of food scraps being collected in the district, and throughout Vermont, has steadily increased since the ban took effect in 2015.
Starting with large food scrap generators such as supermarkets, over the next five years the ban was applied to smaller quantity generators, including residents as of 2020.
WSWMD Executive Director Bob Spencer explained that the district has applied for a permit for increased capacity and the state regulations for a larger facility require that stormwater runoff, particularly leachate from the active composting phase, be managed so as to not have a negative impact on surface or groundwater.
To accomplish this, a building will be constructed to prevent rain and snow from contact with the compost during the first three weeks of the process. The new building will have aeration trenches to provide air to the composting process and minimize the need for turning of the piles. The aeration system will also accelerate the composting process, thereby increasing capacity of the facility.
“We have been working closely with DEC solid waste staff to obtain a permit for a larger composting facility,” Spencer said.
Cherrier said that the project will be financed without incurring long-term debt and therefore will not result in higher tax assessments to its 18-member towns.