Green municipal successes can be achieved from organized community initiatives. After a summer of pilot testing, Hamilton is moving forward with a plan to implement the state's first municipal organic waste recycling program.
Open to 500 families for $6.25 per month ($75 per year), the program will provide participants with both a 13-gallon toter with locking lid and 2-quart countertop container, weekly pickup and two barrels of free compost each spring — a $75 value. About 125 families have signed on and the program will begin once the goal — approximately one-fifth of Hamilton households — is reached.
This noteworthy green initiative is the result of community organizing, led by a few individuals that believe organics can be successfully removed from the waste stream — kept out of landfills and instead recycled — under a citywide program and were willing to participate in a demonstration project generating data that they could share with Hamilton city officials.
Stepping up
Brick Ends Farm's Peter Britton and Roy Ferreira of New England Solid Waste assisted Hamilton's Recycling Committee with making the new formal program a reality.
They offered free services during the summer pilot to the 74 families that participated, and in addition to the free compost Brick Ends will provide participants of the new citywide program. Britton also plans to donate half of Hamilton's organic waste tipping fees to the Hamilton-Wenham public school system.
Britton dedicates a large parcel of his Hamilton estate to composting. Some of his clients include sizeable installations like Harvard University, and his facility once accommodated whale remains from a beaching.
He is working with the town on making municipal organic composting a reality because, "First it has to do with my commitment to see that compostable organic waste does not become wasted. It needs to be converted back to some useful form," he said. And as a soil conditioner, Britton is happy to oblige.
"People are increasingly turning to growing their own food. We're glad to be on the cutting edge of that popularity," he said. Finally, Britton is extending his operation to Hamilton because "That's the community that I am in. I make this 5-acre postage stamp do as much as [it] can."
When Britton and Ferriera sat down with the Recycling Committee to hash out pilot-program details, the committee recruited participants from five neighborhoods in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the collection. Ferreira helped the committee with detailed maps and provided important data on the weekly pickups.
Dollars and sense
Since implementing new trash and recycling rules in 2008, Hamilton has increased its recycling rate to 33 percent and reduced its waste stream by nearly 40 percent, accruing $111,000 in both hauler savings and bag fees, which was placed into an enterprise fund.
By working closely with its volunteers and the city's Department of Public Works, the Recycling Committee was able to craft an affordable pilot that would show that channeling some of the city's waste management expenses from conventional trash waste hauling to organics recycling was indeed feasible and would be supported by residents.
Since pick-up and processing of the organic waste was free during the pilot, the city used some of the enterprise fund to pay for a pallet of Norsemen bins (shipped free) that the participating families used to store their organic waste.
Once the citywide compost program starts, "DPW pays about the same, but for compost instead of trash," the Recycling Committee's Gretel Clark said. Thus for the city, the numbers work.
Hamilton will also be applying to the Massachusetts Department of Public Works for a $17,000 to $20,000 grant to pay for the 500 families' toters and bins. "We don't want our participants to have to pay for the bins," Clark added.
Families will be able to reduce their remaining trash, which is 27 pounds on average, by more than one-third, or 10 pounds, Clark said. They will be able to recycle kitchen scraps, including meat and bones that are normally left out of backyard composters in order to avoid attracting animals, paper towels and napkins, tea bags, coffee grounds, summer yard waste and more.
Proof was in the feedback
At the end of the pilot, the Recycling Committee surveyed participants and asked for feedback. About 40 families of the 56 survey respondents said they would be willing to pay at least $75 per year — 30 families were willing to spend $100 — for organics recycling.
"This program was very well met," Clark said. "We didn't have a single participant that said 'we wouldn't do this again."
Hamilton residents can sign up on the Hamilton Trash Hot Line at 978-468-5515 or at Town Hall.
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Andrea Fox, a Beverly resident, has been writing about environmental sustainability and eco-topics for nine years. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and a watershed protection advocate in Salem Sound Watershed. Visit her Web site at msgreenquickfixes.com.
