Submitted by Dr_JackMeoff t3_114x1ov in vermont
Silly I know, but I just found out about this law and I'm wondering what others do? My parents used to have this big black composting barrel (term?). I use Casella for trash pick-up so I reached out to them about it. Was surprised that towns don't help provide supplies to compost if it's a law. Any who, hoping I can learn more about what others do!
> or transfer station? They'll take it
Only $10 for a 5 gallon bucket at the local transfer station!
What town do you live in? They're making money off your compost twice!
Casella Transfer Station in St. Johnsbury.
Lyndonville doesn't charge for compost. It may be worth dropping off there
Yeah, it's why I go to Lyndonville
How much extra gas are you burning to save money on composting?
If you’re already bringing your trash and recycling, that’s two $6 trips vs $50 monthly mid-tier Casellas ‘curb’-side pickup. Hit the grocery store and hardware store at the same time, and no one talking to you for an hour… I figure that’s the best deal I’ll get all week!
Nah Trash and recycling is included in the rent for my places, so I basically hoard the Compost and drop it off monthly. I think composting is an actually helpful thing for the environment (recycling... IDK) , isn't too much of a hassle, and think in VT theres a decent number of places that make it easy ish. Still, not gonna shame anyone who doesn't
Agreed. It’s one of those laws they don’t plan on enforcing, but gets people to engage a bit more actively with their waste stream. And it can actually cut down on food costs when you notice what foods you’re wasting.
100%
I'll rephrase my question.
How much gas are you wasting solely because the state has a composting law meant to be green?
Maybe $2. The Lyndonville transfer station also accepts other things like TV's for free, that the ST J one doesn't. Also, I usually do it when have other things to do in Lyndonville
Dump it in your back yard an turn it over in the summer every 2 weeks. Cooks down to garden soil
In Chittenden county, it's free as long as you're bringing in some trash anyway.
At the Williston station it’s free even if you don’t have trash to drop off.
It's a dollar a bucket with Lamoille Solid Waste.
Lol thanks
This is actually a win-win for everyone. If you compost your garbage, then it won't sit in your trash barrels, getting gross and growing creepy-crawly things in it. That means you can probably send fewer trash bags to the landfill, saving you $$.
If your town doesn't offer curbside composting, ask around to see if any neighbors will take it. We have about 30 farm animals, ranging from rabbits to goats, and we maintain several fairly large piles out back of the house. I keep a five gallon bucket by the back door for all household garbage and used kitty litter, and carry it out to the piles a couple of times a week. The chickens follow me out and get first crack at it. I also take garbage from my daughter, who live nearby, and if anyone else in the neighborhood asked, I would gladly take their garbage, too.
All that yummy compost goes back into our fields and gardens in the summer.
But as for the law, I doubt it's being enforced at our level.
I hadn’t realized kitty litter could be composted. Is it only certain types?
We use a corn-based litter
I've never heard of such a thing! Where do you get it?
https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/natural-cat-litter/
Love this stuff
Depends on the process! Brattleboro town compost takes all kinds.
Also prolongs the life of VT's only landfill
Thanks!
I collect food scraps in a 3 gallon composting bucket with a carbon filter to avoid smells. When it is full I walk it 300 or so feet into the woods and dump it.
I tried a composter. It has never made it overnight without getting ripped open. I figure fuck it.
Are you seeing any extra critters around the area?
No extras, the crows know the schedule. You could set a clock to them. The fox pays enough attention to know it's a great spot to hunt. The squirrels follow me out sometimes. I live with a state forest across the road and and a few hundred acres of woods behind me. It's the critters woods, they just tolerate me.
It is a law, but they don't prosecute or really do anything as far as consequences go, so don't stress too much. I'll be honest, I haven't been doing it for a few reasons. I live in an apartment, don't have the ability to make a compost pile (not even a yard to speak of) and the landlord pays for the trash removal, so I can't add it as any extra service. I guess the alternative is drop it off somewhere, but I haven't looked into locations, and again, being super honest, I am a lazy ass who really doesn't want to make extra trips somewhere, espeically if I have to pay for dropoff. I also have a tiny kitchen, so even storing an additional bin for compost is kinda tricky! I feel like when they made this law, they didn't really think about apartment-dwellers.
Your landlord is supposed to make some kind of arrangements for handling food scraps: https://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/wmp/SolidWaste/Documents/Universal-Recycling/Landlord-FAQ-Food-Scrap-Management.pdf
Unfortunately, one of the options listed is “require tenants to make an independent plan to manage their food scraps separate from the trash and confirm that this happens” which sounds like a pretty easy out for landlords…. They should at least have provided you with information about drop off options, though. (If you are interested, you can find a list of Chittenden County drop-off locations here. They all accept food scraps; $1 for a 5 gallon container, or free if you are also paying for trash drop-off.)
The land lord could do that, but then the rent would have to be increased 10% for the annual consulting/planning fee.
Try Front Porch Forum. Ask for local pig owners.
Yeah fuck the planet. Keep sealing your organic matter in plastic and burying it. Your “lazy ass” ways are more important than doing your part
Thank goodness someone has the courage to use shame to create behavior change. It doesn’t work, and never has, but you’re really doing the lords work.
Nothing says I love the planet more than burning tons of diesel to compost a little bit of food. In the state that shut down VT Yankee and massively increased their carbon emissions due to using less green energy sources...
Originally that law stated that every trash collector had to offer curbside compost collection by such and such a date. But they pushed back saying that that was unsustainable and VT simply chooses not to enforce the law. We compost. We don't compost. Depends on the day and the weather. No enforcement.
Enforcing it door-to-door does seem excessive, but it is quite frustrating that they just magically removed the requirement for all hauler to offer it.
Thanks!
Your county's Regional Waste Management District is responsible for distributing information regarding composting (and all garbage related issues.) Chittenden County's is www.cswd.net. You can Google to find yours.
They will have resources for you to begin composting at home. If you have a garbage pickup service, they are required by law to provide pickup for compostables.
Chittenden county has a couple of services that will pick up a 5 gallon bin once a week. When I started composting my amount of trash went down so much and it doesn’t smell so now I get trash pick up every 2 weeks. The law isn’t fully implemented yet, I think when it is all the trash services will offer free compost pickup (I pay for the service now).
I pay $20/month and a guy comes and gets my two 5 gallon buckets every other week at the end of my driveway
Got any neighbors with chickens? They’d love to eat your compost for free!
My trash hauler doesn't participate in it. His stance is, if you put it in a bag, he will pick it up, I've gotten rid of tires I've cut up.
I use a green cone food digester.
I don't use curbside trash pickup but was under the impression haulers have to provide a bin. But I have one of the black compost bins and a black barrel I cut the bottom off and sank in the ground a bit. I just collect food scraps in a large coffee can and empty when full. Pretty good additional soil for the garden every Spring.
No. From what I was told, haulers can opt in if they choose to, but they don't have to. Ours opted not to saying the cost of adding trucks and equipment was not feasible when they're already struggling to get staff/drivers. We have a company locally that will pick up for $35 a month, providing a 5-gallon bucket. Or, we can drop off at a bin at the local waste facility. We started composting all but meat/dairy and were told we can throw those away as they are not compostable for garden usage.
I ignore it. My building doesn't even offer recycling, they can't really force us to compost
I'd just start dumping it in a pile out back.
I don't. Landlord forbids us from composting individually and won't put in a bin.
Laws like this are written classist.
They're not. Your landlord is required to provide options.
That has to actually be enforced to not be classist.
We use a Lomi. It’s awesome, turns waste to usable compost/soil in 24 hrs! It’s been 7 months and it’s still great.
$20 a month for filters and pods? I hate everything becoming a subscription model.
You can buy your own activated charcoal and the pods are just added enzymes for composting quickly. It works without them and will work without the charcoal but it’ll smell.
To say it is usable compost/soil in 24 hrs is a strech. All they do is grind up and dehydrate the items you put in there.
Add water, and you have a ground up pile of food waste.
Have you ever used it as soil for any house plants?
I’ve used it extensively in our raised bed garden. Haven’t used it in any houseplants yet.
Have you used one yourself?
I used to work with restaurants that would use commercial models. It's a great solution to reduce food scrap volume for storage and collection frequency. Outside of solar supported power it just seems like a waste of energy for backyard composting
That said, burying makes the most sense
I power it with my BLUETTI solar generator that is recharged by eco flo panels
Hell yeah!
I have a worm bin in my basement and a roller outside.
Would love some tips for this if you could please. How big are your bins/trays and how often do you feed?
And I’d love to stimulate my local economy, so would you sell me some possibly? 🤔 I’d barter somehow even if you’re into that. I’m not looking for a lot of worms. Just something to get me to start hobby-ing so to speak..
I got everything from uncle gyms worms. Started with around a 1000, and I think the population increases or decreases depending on how much I feed them. Over the last 2.5 years I've had periods of lots of cooking with lots of food scraps, and periods of less.
🐓
When the law went into effect, the rat population boomed where I live, in Plainfield village. Given my childhood trauma re: rats, I noped right out of that situation. But I do have a dog who also loves veggies.
I used old lumber to build a container and lid in my yard. Compost goes in, it festers all summer, fall and winter and goes into the garden come spring.
Start a compost pile. It's easy. And if you garden, it's just an added benefit. Otherwise, it's still good for your lawn. You can also get some worms and collect worm castings.
Throw it on the pile
Chickens and a Lomi for most everything. Other stuff (citrus peels, apple cores, onion peels) just goes in a pile with yard waste and breaks down beautifully on its own.
Locals do it for free. They turn it into money.
What town do you live in?
Essex
On a similar note. What do people do with their wood ash? Mine isn't burning very efficiently, so it has significant coals in it.
I've always just spread it lightly in the yard after going through it with a strong magnet. It sweetens the generally acidic soil of Vermont.
You'll likely be really surprised at how much metal you'll find, mostly nails.
I've tried that but the coals just don't break down.
ABLE Waste Management comes to my town and takes compost, trash, and recyclables every Saturday. I put the bag they give you in the freezer so no smells or rotting and do a drop-off once or twice a month.
I use Music Mountain composting. $20ish bucks a month and he picks up my 5 gallon bucket every 2 weeks and leaves a fresh one. This is Rutland county. I’m not sure how much of the state he covers
I'm in Barre and that's who I use, he is good. We have forgotten to bring the bucket out before he will come to your door.
Music mountain is in Barnard too. You can drop it off free at the transfer station too
Strange no one has bear issues with their compost setups….
The food waste was always there for bears. Either in a trash bag, compost bucket or backyard pile.
Home depot orange buckets a great for it. Especially the ones with the tops to them.
Many great ideas for composting on the ytube.
Living In Montpelier, I use a five gallon bucket with a screw top Gamma lid that I dump at Vermont Compost just up the hill from us for free.
If you post on Front Porch Forum looking for a compost bin I'm sure you will get many offers of varying quality and smell
In Montpelier area the Vermont Compost takes it for free
No one follows it
I do it. My wife specified and I built a 3 section compost pile. It’s good stuff on the veggie garden
Composting?.. you mean throwing the food waste over the bank in one spot all the time? Yeah i do that down next to the road. I mean thats why TPTB passed that law isnt it..to draw all the critters into our front yards so the tourists can see them!
I used to throw mine in the garbage, but the compost police busted me, thankfully Sarah George let me go with time served and mandatory community service on Earth Day.
Nah, I just throw it in the trash.
Thanks for being an apathetic asshat, your community and the world appreciate it.
I do what I can. Thanks for the encouragement…
Ciderinsider86 t1_j8yd8ca wrote