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Large-scale composting returns to Chittenden County |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 13 July 2011 |
Large-scale composting returns to Chittenden County
Jul. 13, 2011
Written by Joel Banner Baird
WILLISTON -- Operations that have transformed yard and kitchen waste back into clean, rich soil for 24 years in Burlington's Intervale are settling in to new digs in Williston.
Intervale Compost Products, newly relocated to Redmond Road, began accepting household and restaurant waste as a first step toward larger-scale production, said Clare Innes, a spokeswoman for plant owner and operator Chittenden Solid Waste District.
The new facilities are located near the CSWD main office, about one mile north of Mountain View Road.
Compost operations in the Intervale stopped in March as part of a transition to less flood-prone and archaeologically sensitive ground.
While the $2 million Williston site was under construction, CSWD arranged to have about 45 tons of food waste trucked weekly to compost operations in Middlebury and Moretown.
Food waste, horse manure and leaves had been turned into compost in the Intervale since 1987, when the operation was started by Gardener's Supply Co.
The site later was owned and run by the nonprofit Intervale Center, which transformed 13,000 tons of waste a year into products it sold to home gardeners and professional landscapers under the Intervale Compost brand.
In 2007, the center ran into regulatory problems and was told it must obtain a land-use permit that would require expensive archaeological studies. There was concern the operation could pollute nearby surface- or groundwater; that it lay in a flood zone; and that it disturbed American Indian artifacts buried in the soil.
The solid waste district took over operation of Intervale Compost in 2008. Under an agreement with the Attorney General's Office, the district agreed to stop accepting new material in the Intervale as of July 2010, later amended to March 1, 2011.
Composting organic waste is a key part of the district's strategy to lessen the need for more landfill space. It makes more sense to turn leaves and food scraps into a commercial product than to truck them to distant solid-waste dumps, local experts say.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110713/NEWS02/107130307/Large-scale-composting-returns-Chittenden-County?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE |
