News Flash
May 2016
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Love compost? Love biking? Love helping people recycle right at events?
CSWD has some fun, interesting volunteer and internship openings — two with the potential for academic credit, a great environmental education and outreach experience to add to your resume — and all come with the sweet glow of community spirit. If your company supports volunteerism, one of these opportunities could fit right in with the program:
1. We’re looking for a friendly composting and biking enthusiast! You’ll be a combassador… er, compostador .. uh … Compost Ambassador! Your job will be to pedal a festive trailer full of info and give-aways to farmer’s markets and other fun events to promote CSWD’s Drop-Off Composting Program. Estimated time commitment is 5-10 hours per week, mid-May through mid-October. Potential for academic credit, or simply a great environmental education and outreach experience to add to your resume.
Please send your resume and brief e-mail describing why you are a good fit for this position to mkeough@cswd.net.
2. If you’re a recycling and composting enthusiast, we want you to be a Waste Warrior Leader during the spring, summer and fall event season. You’ll assist CSWD’s Event Outreach Specialist with Waste Warrior trainings as well as set-up and staff waste stations at a number of fun events and festivals on the waterfront and other locations in Chittenden County. Estimated time commitment is 5-10 hours each week, mid-May through mid-October.
Please send your resume and brief e-mail describing why you are a good fit for this position to mkeough@cswd.net.
3. Become a Waste Warrior and you’ll be eligible to volunteer at local events such as farmers’ markets, festivals, and concerts as soon as you’ve completed the training. Volunteers receive free admission to event sites, small tokens of appreciation from event organizers, and the satisfaction of knowing that they’ve made a difference!
– Wednesday, May 11, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Richmond Free Library (201 Bridge Street), or
– Thursday, May 12, 6 p.m to 7:30 p.m. at the Milton Public Library (39 Bombardier Road)
– Wednesday, June 1, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Fletcher Free Library (235 College Street, Burlington)
Reservations required. Please sign up on our Waste Warrior web page.
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Shake off the snow — bring on the dirt!
FRIDAY, April 29 — The Dirt Ball @ The Skinny Pancake (60 Lake St., Burlington) DJ dance party, karaoke contest, and lots of crazy fun, all in celebration of the soil that supports us. Tickets on sale now.
SATURDAY, April 30 — Day in the Dirt Join over 200 volunteers to help prepare various community and school gardens throughout Burlington for growing season. Ends with a delicious picnic and plenty of fun and prizes. Friend the Day in the Dirt Facebook page for more info.
SUNDAY, MAY 1 — Green Mountain Compost’s COMPOSTFEST!
WHEN: 10am-3pm
WHERE: Green Mountain Compost, 1042 Redmond Rd., Williston, VT
WHAT: Free workshops, prizes, tours, fun — and…
– Great deals on compost and other soil products:
$10 off per cubic yard of bulk Complete Compost.
$1 off all bagged Compost, Topsoil, Potting Soil, and Seed Starter, including bag-your-own products. Come and get it!
– Fun activities for the kids: Climb onto a full-size excavator, bucket loader, and dump truck — and dig around in a giant sand pile — AND boing around in the bouncy-house!
– Food trucks!!
– The famous Green Mountain Compost Sundae: chocolate cookies, ice cream, and gummy worms — FREE!!
– First-time gardening and Common Pests & Diseases with Charlie Nardozzi
– Indoor salad gardening with Peter Burke
– How to plant a tree with Meghan Giroux
– Raised bed/lasagna gardening and Edible landscaping with Mark Krawczyk
– Topdressing with compost with Keith Schuler
– Backyard composting with Marge Keough
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Free gardening and backyard composting workshops
Besides the fabulous, free gardening and composting workshops we’re offering at CompostFest on May 1, here are some more to ink into your calendar:
Growing Vegetables & Herbs in Containers for Small SpacesCome to Green Mountain Compost and join Kim Antonioli, Growinator Extraordinaire at Adams Farm Market in Williston, as she shares her secrets for growing tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, and more — in containers! Assemble, plant and take home your own 12″ container of lettuces and herbs with Green Mountain Compost potting mix and Adams Farm Market plants. It’s a great way to add living accents to your landscape. Just add sunshine and water, and you’ve got yourself an island of ahhhhhh for your deck, porch, or yard.
WHEN: Monday, May 16, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Green Mountain Compost (1042 Redmond Road, Williston)
COST: $12.75 (please bring exact change cash or check made out to Adams Farm Market).
RESERVATION REQUIRED — only 12 spots available:
Backyard Composting Workshops
There’s gold in them thar food scraps — black gold, that is. Don’t waste those valuable nutrients by tossing them in the trash. It’s easy to use those scraps to make compost for your lawn and garden. Find out how in this popular workshop. Geared for adults.
WHEN: Tuesday, May 17th, Monday May 23rd, or Tuesday May 24th.
WHERE: Green Mountain Compost (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
COST: Free!
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: Sign up on our workshop page to reserve your spot! Maximum 25 participants.
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Edible Forest Gardens Workshop
Join Meghan Giroux from Vermont Edible Landscapes and learn how to create edible forest gardens in your own backyard. Discover how to design, establish and maintain these edible ecosystems that mimic the structure and function of natural forests
WHEN: Friday, June 3, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Green Mountain Compost (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
COST: Free!
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: Sign up on our Edible Garden workshop page to reserve your spot! Maximum 25 participants.
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How to close the food loop at CSWD Drop-Off Centers: Drop off your food scraps and buy a bag of compost!
Here’s what you can get for your hard-earned buckeroos:
Complete Compost: $6.49 + tax Chock-full of the nutrients and soil-building properties that gardeners and landscapers look for in a growing medium. Made with a high-quality recipe of yard trimmings, wood chips…oh, and plenty of community food scraps, probably from your own neighborhood! Complete Compost truly closes the “local food loop.”
Premium Topsoil: $4.49 + tax If chemical-free, lush lawn grass and thriving garden beds are what you’re after, try our organic Premium Topsoil. It’s high in organic matter to give plants a boost and improve soil structure for optimum drainage. It’s also super easy to spread and great for a wide variety of lawn and garden applications.
Premium Potting Soil: $9.49 + tax Professional-grade, organic Premium Potting Soil, custom blended for the perfect balance of texture, moisture retention, and drainage. Made from our organic Premium Compost, regionally-sourced sphagnum peat moss, aged pine bark, and a mix of organic fertilizers.
Bulk Complete Topsoil, Complete Compost, Raised Bed Mix, Microbe Mulch, and Pine Bark Mulch.
Bag-Your-Own Complete Compost and Raised Bed Mix
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Prescription drug take-back day April 30
Leftover medicine poses a serious safety threat in the U.S., with more people dying each year from overdoses involving prescription painkillers than from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If you have leftover medications, bring them to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
WHAT: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
WHEN: Saturday, April 30, 2016, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
WHERE: Visit the DEA’s National Take-Back Initiative page for locations. Due to the abundance of take-back locations provided by the DEA and local law enforcement agencies, CSWD facilities are NOT participating in the take-back program.
The DEA offers this program to provide safe, convenient places to bring your leftover drugs, and offers information on how to prevent drug abuse.
The Product Stewardship Institute, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the health and environmental impacts of consumer products, has created a drug take-back finder web page that offers a clearinghouse of information about safe pharmaceutical take-back initiatives in Vermont.
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Join Vermont’s annual labor of love
Join your neighbors and hundreds of others from all around the state for Vermont’s annual labor of love on Saturday, May 7, for Green Up Day!
We may be the Green Mountain State, but we’re also the green roadsides and riverways state! Show some love and spend a few hours helping your fellow Vermonters clean up a winter’s worth of trash. The green glow you feel will last a lot longer than the time you donate to the cause. Green Up Vermont will supply the bags, CSWD and Casella will provide the disposal — you supply the pick-up-itude! It’s fun, you meet all kinds of great people, and you get that sweet glow from having taken part in something really big and wonderful.
How to take part
Each town has figured out the best way to organize Green Up Day crews. Some even throw a big party afterwards! Visit the Green Up Day participation page to find out what’s going on in your town.
Psssssst! Have you done your taxes yet? Don’t forget to make a donation on Line 29 on your tax form. Green Up Day relies on donations, sponsors, and participants to keep this tradition alive!
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Burlingtonians! Are you moving out of your residence? This SMOP’s for you!
Whether you’re moving out or you just want a little more elbow room, the 16th Annual Spring Move Out Project (SMOP) is the place for unloading unwanted (but still usable) household goods — and the place for those who could use them to take them home. Bring your clothing, books, household items, furniture, and non-perishable food items down to this giant, community swap event. Leftovers will be donated to local charities and reuse stores.
WHEN: Wednesday, May 25, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
WHERE: Two locations in Burlington:
– Loomis Street (between Isham/Booth Streets and North Willard Street)
– Lower Buell Street (between Orchard Terrace and South Union Street). For a fee ranging from $5 to $25, unusable furniture and other items too far gone for swapping will be accepted at dumpsters located on both streets. These dumpsters will be available only during the event. Recyclables and many other items that must not be put in the trash will not be accepted at SMOP. CSWD’s Burlington (9:30-5), Essex ( 8-3:30) and Williston ( 8-3:30) Drop-Off Centers accept most items and will be open the day of SMOP. Fees may apply.
This popular street swap encourages reuse, recycling, and overall better management of unwanted items resulting during student move-out times. SMOP partners include: CSWD, City of Burlington, University of Vermont, Champlain College, ReSOURCE, Burlington neighborhood groups and landlords, Casella Waste Systems, and Myers Containers.
For more information, contact UVM at 656-9405 and oscr@uvm.edu, or the CSWD Hotline at 872-8111.
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Summer hours for Green Mountain Compost and the McNeil Wood Waste Depot begin in May!
Two inches of snow during the last week in April must mean that spring is here! New hours for two of your favorite facilities begin in May:
Green Mountain Compost
May 1 – May 30: Open every day, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Sunday!
Regular summer hours begin in June: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Free Shred Fest for sensitive documents
Every two seconds, someone’s identity is stolen according to the AARP Fraud Watch Network. Make sure your sensitive documents are shredded and properly recycled at the AARP Shred Fest!
WHEN: Saturday, April 30, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
WHERE: 947 Shelburne Rd., South Burlington (former KMart parking lot)
COST: Free!!
THE RULES:
– No more than 3 bags or boxes per person
– Paper clips and staples do not need to be removed from documents
MORE INFO: AARP Shred Fest web page |
CSWD Calendar
See stories above for more info on these events:
April 29 – May 1: Dirty weekend and Green Mountain Compost’s COMPOSTFEST!
April 30: National prescription drug take-back day
May 7: Green Up Day!
May 16: Container gardening workshop at Green Mountain Compost
May 17, 23, 24: Free backyard composting workshops at Green Mountain Compost
May 25: Spring Move Out Project in Burlington
May 25: CSWD Full Board meeting (See CSWD calendar for details.)
June 3: Edible Forest Gardens workshop at Green Mountain Compost
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