By Linda Talbott, Haddam Sustainability Committee
(October 2, 2022) —First of all, apologies to all participants, as we did have a glitch in the Blue Earth Compost pick-up schedule for a couple of weeks in early September. For some reason, there was no pick-up around Labor Day weekend and, since all nine bins we had were filled, the Transfer Station staff had to shut down the Food Scrap pick-up. A new driver was hired and he didn’t get the route down pat, so another week, the same thing happened. We apologize for this. We now have a total of eleven bins, and Blue Earth assures us this won’t happen again.
Prior to that, we were filling nine bins consistently. Since we started this program in December 2021, we have removed, as of October 2, 2022, 29,080 lbs. or 14.54 tons of food scraps out of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). If we consistently fill twelve bins, we will get a two-yard dumpster. Thank you to the Transfer Station staff who monitor the food bins and roll them into and out of the swap shack section.
Some people have mentioned that they had unwanted, buggy critters around their food bins in the hot summer. Do not spray them, as that will contaminate the food scrap compost. There are 2 solutions:
- If your countertop compostable bag is full, tie a knot in it and put it in your freezer. You can transport it and dump it into the Blue Earth bin frozen.
- Go to the Transfer Station more than once a week, if possible, to get rid of it. Someone told me they had it outside for a couple of weeks before they went to the Transfer Station. In the heat of the summer, that invites the buggy critters.
Of the 150 starter kits the Town purchased, there are only 19 left. You can get them at the Town Office Building in the Tax Collector’s office, the First Selectman’s office, or the Assessor’s office. If you are running out of the compostable BioBags, those are there as well. $25 is the price for a kit and $5/roll of 25 bags. A kit consists of a countertop bin, a roll of compostable bags and a six-gallon green transport bin.
It is not necessary to use one of these starter kits to participate. The only requirement is not to put your food scraps into a plastic or biodegradable bag. Food scraps do not have to be in any kind of bag and can be dumped just the way they are. Thank you to all who are participating. Contact us at HaddamSustainabilityCommittee@gmail.com.
