The Rover is coming to your town!
The Rover is the mobile household hazardous waste collection unit that hibernates at the Environmental Depot, CSWD’s year-round hazardous waste collection facility in South Burlington.
The Depot takes hazardous materials all year long from residents and businesses. During the summer, the Rover stops once in each town and accepts household hazardous wastes from residents (material from businesses is not accepted at Rover events).
The Rover accepts household hazardous wastes such as paints and stains, automotive fluids, hobby supplies, pesticides, fertilizers, household cleaners, and similar items with the words “Danger,” “Caution,” “Warning,” or “Poison” on the label. You might be surprised at some of the items considered hazardous on thislist of household hazardous waste items.
(NOTE: The Rover is free to Chittenden County households only. Fees apply to residents from outside of Chittenden County.)
The Rover Schedule:
September 12: Underhill Town Garage 9:00 – 1:00
September 19: Jericho Highway Garage 9:00 – 1:00
September 26: Richmond CSWD Drop-Off Center 8:00 – 3:30
October 3: Huntington Center Fire Station 9:00 – 1:00
October 10: Williston CSWD Drop-Off Center 8:00 – 3:30
October 17: St. George Town Center 9:00 – 1:00
October 24: Bolton Fire Station 9:00 – 1:00
Need more info? Call our Hotline at 872-8111 or visit cswd.net
Can’t make it to the Rover on any of these dates?
If you are a Chittenden County household, bring it to the Environmental Depot any time of year — free of charge for Chittenden County residents!
Environmental Depot
1011 Airport Parkway, South Burlington.
Wednesday-Friday 8-2; Saturday 8-3:30.
The fine print: The Environmental Depot is available free only to Chittenden County residents. Some fees apply for residents and businesses from outside of Chittenden County.
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Free backyard composting workshops at Green Mountain Compost
Discover the benefits of “closing the loop” with your own household food scraps in this interactive, hands-on demonstration of a healthy compost system — one that works for you all year ’round!
WHEN: Monday, September 14, 5-6 pm and Tuesday, September 15, 5 to 6 pm.
WHERE: Green Mountain Compost Edu-Shed (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
Here’s what you’ll learn:
– What type of bin is best for you
– Where to locate your bin
– What to put into your bin (and what to avoid!)
– How to manage your bin
– Troubleshooting
– Harvesting your compost
– Alternatives to a backyard bin (pick up service, or drop-off composting)
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New fee at Chittenden County transfer stations for material banned from the landfill
It’s probably safe to say that, here at CSWD, we spend a lot more time than you do thinking about landfills — what goes in them, and what needs to stay out of them. Somebody has to, otherwise, we’d quickly run out of space filling it with plastic, paper, electronic, and metal items that could have been recycled; food scraps and yard debris that could have been composted, and hazardous materials that should have been sent to a facility better equipped to manage those dangerous wastes.
That’s why there are state and local laws that regulate what can and can’t go into a landfill. As of October 1, 2015, there will be a Banned Materials Fee imposed on those who haul loads of waste containing material banned from the landfill to any of the three transfer stations in Chittenden County:
– All Cycle Transfer Station, 220 Avenue B, Williston (864-3615)
– Burlington Area Transfer Station, 1496 Redmond Rd., Williston (878-3506, ext. 26)
– Myers Recycling Center, 216 Red Can Dr., Colchester (655-4312)
The fee applies to any load hauled by anyone (individuals, businesses, and commercial haulers) destined for disposal that contains 10 percent or more (by volume) of the following:
– Special wastes: major appliances, tires, clean natural wood or lumber, certain electronic devices (TVs, computers, computer peripherals), untreated regulated medical waste, waste oil, certain batteries (lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, rechargeable, and those containing mercury), paint (excluding less than a gallon of solidified water-based paint), products and devices containing mercury (includes fluorescent bulbs and tubes, thermostats, thermometers, sump pump floats, mercury switches, etc.), and scrap metal larger than 8 cubic inches or weighing more than 1 pound.
– Mandatory recyclables (those you put in your blue bin or cart) – visit our mandatory recyclables web page for a complete list).
– Yard trimmings – grass, leaves, and weeds, and twigs up to about a pencil’s width in diameter.
– Food residuals – scraps, leftovers, and unused food from generators covered by the Act 148 food scrap diversion mandate (currently, those who generate at least 52 tons/year; on July 1, 2016 that minimum drops to 26 tons/year).
– ANY amount of Hazardous waste – The 10% minimum does not apply to hazardous waste. Visit our hazardous waste web page for a list of what is considered hazardous (you might be surprised to find some hobby, health, and housecleaning products on this list!). The fee is $20 per ton, with a $60 minimum charge per load containing at least 10% or more by volume of banned materials listed above, or ANY amount of hazardous waste.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us:
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New rules and tools for reducing waste
Most Vermonters understand the benefits of keeping valuable resources out of the landfill. For starters, recyclables replace the need for virgin resources in making new products, and recycling programs create more jobs than landfills do. Food scraps can be made into compost to help improve our soil, and high quality unused food can help feed our hungry neighbors. But mainly, it offends our ingrained sense of Yankee practicality to see anything go to waste.
Have you ever winced as you watched someone throw a soda can in the trash? Or tip-toed through the minefields of decorum as you tried to find the least preachy way to help your friend visiting from afar understand the way we do things here? Recycling and composting are now familiar concepts to most folks in Chittenden County. It’s what we do here.
This year, several mandates were phased in from Act 148, Vermont’s Universal Recycling and Composting Law. Most visibly, recycling became mandatory throughout the state, more businesses are being required to divert food scraps from the landfill, and haulers are required to institute unit-based pricing for residential trash pickup to provide an incentive for customers to more accurately separate recyclables from trash. But Act 148 is only one of several tools available to make it more convenient and efficient for Vermonters to keep as much as possible out of the landfill. This year, CSWD rewrote its Solid Waste Implementation Plan (SWIP), which details how various waste streams are managed in Chittenden County, outlines how those who live and work here will be educated about waste prevention and proper disposal, and explains how CSWD will meet performance standards in Vermont’s Materials Management Plan. CSWD also revised its Ordinance this year to help steer our disposal stream in more beneficial directions. The State has set a disposal rate goal of 2 lbs. 11 oz. per person per day by 2020. Disposal rate refers to the amount of trash we send to the landfill from activities at home, work, school, and play. Chittenden County’s current per capita disposal rate is 3 lbs. 1 oz. How are we going to shed those 6 daily ounces by 2020? CSWD’s Ordinance and SWIP, along with outreach efforts in schools, businesses, and the community, are designed to help you get there.
For example:
– Multi-unit owners and managers are now required to annually provide occupants with information on proper disposal of recyclables, hazardous wastes, etc.
– Trash containers in publicly owned spaces must now be paired with one for recycling.
– Event venues must provide information on proper disposal of recyclables, compostables, etc.
– Changes in labeling requirements for containers for trash, recycling, and compostables will help more clearly convey proper sorting to users.
– For businesses, non-profits, and schools interested in (or required to) separate food scraps from trash, CSWD staff is on hand to help them set up effective systems.
– Clean lumber and natural wood is now banned from the landfill in Chittenden County, as there are more beneficial uses for that material than languishing in the landfill.
If you live or work in Chittenden County, you may have already heard about or worked with CSWD’s community, business, and school outreach team. We’re here to help make it as convenient and effective as possible to weave the waste reduction mandates into our community to help keep valuable resources out of the landfill — and turn our waste stream into a trickle.
Got questions about how your business, institution, community, or household can most effectively and efficiently comply with the new mandates? Drop us a line. We’re here to help!
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Customer Appreciation Days return to Drop-Off Centers!
It takes a lot of people to run the Chittenden Solid Waste District, but one person truly earns the Most Valuable Player award: [drum roll, please…] It’s YOU! Yes, you. Oh, stop being modest! Why, without your efforts to buy less-toxic products and reuse, recycle, and compost everything you can, there would be no system. There would only be a landfill packed with wasted resources, wasted potential.
We want to thank you for keeping the reuse, recycling, and composting system humming! After all, you take the time to:
– learn what goes in the blue bin and what can be composted
– figure out how to purchase less-toxic items with as little landfill-bound packaging as possible
– get reusables into the hands of those who can still use ’em
So we’re continuing our series of Drop-Off Center Customer Appreciation Days at our Drop-Off Centers! Here’s what’s on the docket:
– Cider, coffee, and donuts!
– Prize drawings and interactive giveaways
– Info about our programs
– A chance to stump the CSWD waste reduction nerds with your questions about recycling, composting, reusing, and other ways of starving the landfill.
We hope you can make it to one — or more! — of our Customer Appreciation Days. Here’s the scoop:
WHEN & WHERE: 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. on the following dates and locations:
Saturday, Sept. 12: Hinesburg DOC (907 Beecher Hill Rd.)
Saturday, Sept. 19: Milton DOC ((36 Landfill Rd., near Bombardier Rd.)
Saturday, Oct. 3: Williston DOC (1492 Redmond Rd.)
Saturday Oct. 24: Burlington DOC (339 Pine St.)
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Another Compost Challenge Winner — you could be next!
Robert Butani has cut his trash in half. How? He brings his food scraps to a CSWD Drop-Off Center for us to turn into compost rather than add to the landfill.
“We had never really thought about composting food scraps until we came in on Customer Appreciation Day and learned about it,” he said, when I called to let him know he had won the monthly drawing for participating in CSWD’s Drop-Off Composting Challenge. “They were giving out food collection containers so we got one for the kitchen counter and one we keep on the back porch. We don’t have room for to compost ourselves in our backyard. We bring it down with our trash once a week. We like the routine of it and it’s working really well. Once we learned about it, we saw that that it was one small way where we could reduce our effect on the earth.” We’re awarding Robert with a $25 gift certificate to Henry’s Diner at 155 Bank St. in Burlington. Why Henry’s? Because they keep their food scraps out of the landfill, too! Now you have an extra reason to grab a bite to eat at Henry’s: to deliver a high-five for helping turn our community waste stream into a trickle. Want to slash your trash? Lighten your load on the planet? Reduce your landfill legacy? One of the easiest ways to make a real difference is to plunk your peels, eggshells, and leftovers into a pail (available free at all CSWD Drop-Off Centers) rather than your trash can. When it’s full, bring it on in and dump it in the food scrap collection bins. We’ll bring it all to Green Mountain Compost and make compost out of it. To make it fun, we’re holding a Drop-Off Composting Challenge, where you get a punch card and you get a punch (well, your card gets a punch…) when you bring us your food scraps. At 5 punches, you get a prize and you get a chance to win a monthly drawing for a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant that also composts their food scraps. Give it a try — you might surprise yourself and wonder why you were throwing all those valuable food scraps away all this time!
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Wanted: Compost & bicycling fanatics
We’re looking for one or two friendly, energetic volunteers or interns to pedal around with a small bike trailer at farmer’s markets, the Burlington waterfront, and other fun locations to promote CSWD’s Drop-Off Composting Program. We’ll outfit your bike with a festive bike cargo trailer stocked with info & giveaways!
Estimated time commitment is 5-10 hours each week, now through mid-October. Potential for academic credit, or simply a great environmental education and outreach experience to add to your resume.
Interested? Please send your resume and brief email describing why you are a good fit for this position to mkeough@cswd.net
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As the worm turns
by Clare Innes, CSWD Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Next week, I will have worms.
Usually, admitting to having worms is not a way to win friends. Influence people, yes, but not in ways you might want. But these worms will be different. They’re the crème de la crème of worms: They’re Eisenia fetida, a type of earthworm perfect for helping me experience first-hand what it’s like to close the food loop by using them to compost some of the food scraps I generate in my kitchen.
What does it mean, to “close the food loop”? It means that, when I peel some carrots or shuck some corn, I don’t toss those leftovers in the trash, where they will languish forever in the landfill. Instead, those food scraps will be used to make more food! Here’s how: When I sprinkle banana peels, celery tops, tea leaves, and egg shells into my worm bin, my wiggly friends start munching and process those scraps into worm castings. Worm castings are similar to horse manure in that they provide powerfood for plants. I’ll add worm castings to the soil in my garden and pooof! I’ll have happy, healthy plants and bigger veggies to feed me and my worms. Composting food scraps in a backyard systemor dumping them into a food scrap collection bin at a CSWD Drop-Off Centeraccomplishes the same end: Those food scraps are processed into compost. When you add that compost to your garden, it helps you grow more food, and the process begins again! Back to the worm bin: It’s basically a 10-gallon plastic bin with a lid, and a layer of shredded newspaper and leaf litter in the bottom. I’ll start with about a half pound of worms. It’ll take the worms about 4 months to generate enough castings to use on the plants. And in that time, they’ll eat about a quarter of a pound of raw veggie scraps a day. I’ll still bring food scraps that aren’t good for the worms to a nearby CSWD Drop-Off Center for composting. Cooked food and meat and dairy products don’t work well in worm bins.
Back to the worms themselves: Not just any ole worm will do. The reason I’m usingEisenia fetidas is that they are very well suited for living in colonies and aren’t travelers and burrowers by nature. Common Red Wigglers are actually NOT ideal for composting food scraps in a bin. They are poetic wanderers and won’t do as well in an enclosed environment. My worm bin is sharing my home, so I’m definitely going for worms that will be happy there.
If you’re interested in finding out more about setting up a worm bin of your own, we’ve got a lot of info on our worm composting web page. Check it out, and I’ll let you know how my first few weeks go in the October edition of the Flash.
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We get by with a little help from our friends
Can you spare some change? CSWD is sponsoring a coin drop at all of our Drop-Off Centers during September and October. It all goes to the United Way of Chittenden County, where it’s used to help our needy neighbors. So come on by and drop a dime! Every little bit helps.
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Your unused bike or sewing machine can change a life
Got a bike or a sewing machine collecting dust? Set it free to become a life-changing gift for someone in the developing world. Bring it to the annual Pedals for Progress collection sponsored by the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.
WHEN: Saturday, September 26th, 9am – 1pm
WHERE: Parking lot of Faith United Methodist Church, 899 Dorset Street, South Burlington
DONATION: We request a tax-deductible $10 donation with each bike or sewing machine to help defray the cost of shipping. You will receive a receipt for $10 plus the value of the donated item.
For more information, call Joanne Heidkamp at 802-238-5414
Visit them on Facebook at Pedals for Progress Vermont
Bikes are sent to non-profit partners in Ghana, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Albania and other countries on 4 continents, where your old, faithful steed is put to good use.
– Bikes provide transportation to school for students in who might otherwise face a 5 -10 mile walk at the beginning and end of the school day. Students with bikes are far more likely to continue their education past the primary grades.
– Bikes provide a more efficient way for subsistence farmers, craftspeople, and vendors to get their products to markets, or ferry people around in pedicabs.
– Bikes allow health care workers to spend more time with patients and less time walking from village to village, and they help rangers to patrol the coastal areas where endangered sea turtles nest, to prevent poaching.
Sewing machines help women earn a living where it can be difficult for women to do so.
– In Moldova, which has the highest rate of young women victimized by human trafficking in Eastern Europe, sewing machines are part of a project to provide young women with the skills to earn a living locally.
– In Kyrgyzstan, sewing machines were used to create a cooperative where unemployed women can learn to sew. The co-op produces and sells household linens in the community.
– In Honduras, secondary school students are required to buy a uniform. This cost prevents some students from continuing their education. Local sewing groups make uniforms at a fraction of the cost, allowing more students to attend school and providing the women with a marketable skill.
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Burlington residents asked to participate in survey
Do you live in Burlington? Are you 18 or over? If you can answer “yes” to BOTH questions, you are invited to take part in a survey to help researchers better understand where pharmaceutical waste comes from and how people are disposing of unused medication.
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National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is coming!
While a reinforcing dose of nature can do wonders to alleviate the pings and pangs of daily life, at some point, most of us have had to rely on pharmacological resources to combat more the persistent ailments.
When we prevail before the pill bottle is empty (and we’re given the OK by the doc to stop taking them), it’s important to dispose of leftover drugs properly. The folks at The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency are sponsoring a day to do just that.
WHAT: National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
WHEN: Saturday, September 26, 2015
Proper disposal means keeping those prescription drugs out of the hands of those who would abuse them, AND keeping them out of our waterways by not flushing them down the drain.
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A fun way to carry stuff on your bike — DIY-style
This is too fun to resist: If you are looking for an inventive way to carry stuff on your bike, look no further than the nearest kitty litter bucket! They’re waterproof, easy to put on and take off, and will start conversations wherever you go! Bike Recycle Vermont is offering a kitty litter bucket pannier installation workshop
WHAT: DIY Pannier Workshop
WHERE: Bike Recycle Vermont, 664 Riverside Ave., Burlington
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 5, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
COST: $30 (includes a free rack if you don’t already have one!)
REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Click here to sign up
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Help someone in need put their best foot forward
Go on — look in your closet. Trapped behind the ThighMaster and hot-pink Tae Bo leotards, there lies a heap of shoes you haven’t worn for years. Those shoes were made to move. If you’re not making that happen, then maybe it’s time to pop ’em into a bag and bring them to the shoe reuse collection events coming up in October!
WHEN: October 1, 2 & 3, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE: Grace United Methodist Church, 130 Maple St., Essex Junction
WHAT: Your undamaged, gently used shoes, in pairs.
Types of shoes they’re looking for — Shoes that are clean and in good repair, such as:
Athletic – running, basketball, soccer cleats
Men’s – dress shoes, casual shoes, & sandals
Ladies Flats – low heels & sandals
Kid’s – casual, dress, athletic, cleats
Sports Sandals – good straps
Please DO NOT include these shoes:
– Shoes with rips, holes, paint, or marks
– Worn-out heels, toes, etc.
– Flip-flops or Crocs
– Stiletto or spike heels
– Rain or winter boots
– Women’s dress boots
“Our church has sent 8 boxes weighing about 50 pounds each to Rerun Shoes,” says Elizabeth Stone of Grace United. “For us at Grace, this is another way of being in mission. People seem happy to know that there is a home for the shoes.”
The first stop in the new life for your old soles is Holyoke, Mass., a facility where adults with disabilities are paid to inspect and prepare your shoes for export to African nations where they are needed. There, they provide income opportunities for micro-businesses that sell them at affordable prices for people who need them.
Find out more about the program by visiting the Rerun Shoes website.
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