Composting is coming back in a big way in Lamoille County. With help from a $50,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission, a long-dormant composting operation on Wilson Road in Johnson is being renovated by the Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District.
There鈥檚 a big need for composting. In 2012, Vermont passed a universal recycling and composting law, aiming to keep organic materials 鈥� leaves, grass, weeds, clean wood and food scraps, for example 鈥� from being buried in landfills. The state鈥檚 goal is to divert 50 percent of that organic material by 2020, because landfill space is expensive and composting is an inexpensive, environmentally friendly, natural process.
Under the law, leaf and yard debris were banned from the landfill in 2016, food scraps were required to be collected at all solid waste facilities beginning July 1 of this year, and in 2020 there is a complete ban on landfill disposal of food scraps.
Based on a 2012 study, the Lamoille Region sends more than 2,600 tons of organic material to the landfill every year. However, until now, the Lamoille Region lacked the facilities to manage organics. The Johnson project will change that.
District member towns are Belvidere, Cambridge, Craftsbury, Eden, Elmore, Hyde Park, Johnson, Morristown, Stowe, Waterville, Wolcott and Worcester.
In addition to the solid waste district, the project involves the Johnson village government, the Lamoille County Planning Commission, the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, and support from the state Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets and the Agency of Natural Resources. Financial assistance for branding and printed materials has come from the High Meadows Fund.
Reviving the Johnson composting operation will cost a fraction of building a new facility, organizers say.
The composting operation will be run by Lamoille Soil, a new division of the 12-town Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District. It will be the only certified composting facility in Lamoille County.
Lamoille Soil intends to be more than just a place to dump organic material. It plans a community-wide organics diversion program, making compost to grow with.
It aims to organize a comprehensive, hands-on educational opportunity for students from elementary school to college, plus local residents.
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