Deal saves composting in Burlington Intervale

By Candace Page • Free Press Staff Writer • September 19, 2008

Chittenden Solid Waste District signed an agreement Thursday to take over operation of Burlington's troubled Intervale Compost, effective Oct. 1.

The deal will save Vermont's largest garbage-to-fertilizer operation, a business that each year turns 13,000 tons of yard waste, food scraps and cheesemaking byproducts into commercial compost.

Intervale Compost will remain on the banks of the Winooski River for three years, while the waste district finds other sites or other ways to keep organic refuse out of the landfill.

Waste will continue to be accepted at the Intervale site until July 1, 2010. Compost piles will remain on the site for a year after that.

The nonprofit Intervale Center had been planning to close its compost business since April. That decision came after allegations of environmental violations at the site, and after state regulators ruled the operation needed an Act 250 land-use permit -- a permit likely to require expensive archaeological studies.

"This really means that we can help support ongoing composting for Chittenden County," said Glenn McRae, director of the Intervale Center. "It also clarifies for us how we can move financially out of this situation to focus on the things we are designed to do.

"This has been a very large distraction," said McRae, whose group was founded to support local food production in the fertile Intervale. "We are not in business to deal with regulators or a commercial enterprise of the magnitude of Intervale Compost."

Chittenden Solid Waste will pay the center $150,000 for its piles of decomposing waste and lease land from the center at the rate of $28,310 a year.

The memorandum of understanding signed Thursday calls for a more detailed contract to be signed by Oct. 1, contingent on resolving eight issues. The two sides said they expect all the contingencies to be met.

High on the list: reaching a "favorable settlement" with the state Attorney General's Office of violations alleged against the Intervale Center.

That settlement could come as early as today, CSWD General Manager Tom Moreau said.

According to the memorandum of understanding, the attorney general has offered to settle the case for a $50,000 fine. CSWD "may contribute" up to $20,000 to settle that fine, the agreement says.

Contact Candace Page at 660-1865 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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