Green Mountain Compost

 McNeil Wood & Yard Waste Depot

e’ll give you all the info and support you need to make it work for you, plus containers to collect it in!

When food scraps wind up in the landfill, it can take decades for them to break down in that airless tomb. We’ve all heard how important it is to be concerned about our carbon footprint. Well, as food slowly decomposes in a landfill, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Some landfills have methane collection systems that turn that gas into energy, but none capture 100%, and even systems that do capture the gas frequently burn it off with open flares instead of converting it to energy.

Any way you slice it, keeping food scraps out of the landfill is a step closer to nature’s original design, where nothing is wasted. Now that’s Yankee practicality.

Go ahead — give it a try. We’re here to help!
Call (802) 872-8111  —  Email info@cswd.net  — Visit cswd.net/

For many people, November is the gateway month to the holiday season and there’s never enough time, there’s always too much traffic, and the most convenient solutions usually turn out to be the most wasteful — leaving what’s left of your New Year’s resolutions in tatters.

Relax. You don’t have to increase your landfill legacy while you’re out running around getting ready for the holidays. Take a deeeeep breath. Now let it out. You’ve got this.

1. Need to grab a bite while you’re out? Use your patronage as a force for good! There are many restaurants and businesses that are fighting food waste by composting their food scraps. For a list of them, visit this website and show them your gratitude by popping in for a meal:  https://cswd.net/business/businesses-fighting-food-waste/

2. Throw an easy-peasy, waste-free dinner party. Here’s how:
– Use reusable dinnerware. After all, the best gossip happens in the kitchen during communal dishwashing sessions.
– If you use disposable plates, bowls, or cups, make sure they’re recyclable or compostable.
Here are the recycling rules:
     # Used paper plates, bowls, and cups are NOT recyclable. All paper cups — used or unused — are coated with plastic, making all cups non-recyclable. When used, food and beverages soak in, contaminating them, rendering them non-recyclable.
# Plastic cups, bowls, and plates are recyclable only if rinsed clean. That means NO stuck-on food.
# Utensils of any kind or material are NOT recyclable. Period.
Here are the composting rules:
     # Uncoated paper plates and bowls are compostable along with any leftover food and scraps.
# Cups, coated paper plates and bowls, and plastic foodware (including utensils) are compostable only if they or the package they come in states that they are “BPI Certified” or “ASTM certified for compostability.”
# You have a plan for setting up separate containers for trash, recyclables and compostables. If you go to all the trouble to use compostable products, and you don’t have a place for people to put them, they (and your good intentions) will end up in the trash or, worse, mixed in with recyclables.
# Find out more about compostable products at the Green Mountain Compost compostable products web page.
# See? It’s much easier to just use reusable dinnerware! If you don’t have enough on hand, go buy some for very little money at a reuse store like the ReSource Household Goods shop in Burlington, Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Williston, or Goodwill in Williston or South Burlington. Then donate them back when you’re done! Find these and other reuse options on CSWD’s reuse and donations web page. 

3. Food scraps are a valuable resource — treat ’em that way!
# When you’re preparing your meals, simply toss the rinds, peels, fats, bones, coffee grounds, and even paper towels into a food scrap collection container (any container with a tight lid will do). Easy-peasy tip: Line the bottom of the bucket with a scrap of newspaper or a paper towel to make dumping easier.
# When you’re done eating, scrape your plates into that same container.
# The next time you’re out running errands, bring along the container and dump it off at any CSWD Drop-Off Center or Green Mountain Compost in Williston.

4. Here are some handy food storage ideas that can save you some real dough. Check out

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That’s why it’s important to empty and rinse plastic and metal cans, bottles, and tubs clean before putting them in your recycling bin. Paper or cardboard — including paper liners used with boxes of cereal, cracker, etc. — contaminated with food residue, or grease stains is a big recycling no-no.

We use the money we make from selling recyclables to fund recycling programs. If we are paid less for our loads because of too much contamination, or if we have to pay to send food-contaminated recyclables to the landfill rather than to market, that’s less funding for programs that serve you. Plus, food contamination makes the job and working environment much harder for the 20+ workers who sort your cans, bottles, jugs, and paper at our recycling facility.

Phoebe’s rinsing technique (thanks to fsamuels)

Easy-rinse tip: If you have a hard-to-rinse jar of peanut butter, mayo, etc., and you don’t have a professional like Phoebe around to take care of it, just fill the jar with rinse water from your dishes, let it sit in the sink for a few minutes, and you’ll find it much easier to swish out that remaining food, or tuck that jar into your dishwasher if you have room. Add a stainless-steel scrubbie to your kitchen clean-up arsenal and you’ll find it much easier to clean out those containers!