WRITTEN BY WANDA CURTIS
Every year millions of tons of waste are dumped in landfills throughout the nation. The EPA reports that 146.1 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were sent to landfills in 2018. About 24 percent of that waste was food waste, plastics accounted for 18 percent, paperboard contributed 12 percent, and rubber, leather, and textiles made up 11 percent. Other materials contributed less than 10 percent.
According to the EPA, landfills or dumps are one of the most common forms of waste management in the world. At landfill sites, waste is broken down into smaller components and compacted with layers of soil and organic materials.
Maine is home to a number of active landfills. The largest is the state-owned Juniper Ridge Landfill located in Old Town and Alton. It currently encompasses 780 acres but was approved to add 1.9 million cubic yards to their facility. Maine DEP has reported that the state is running out of space for landfills.
Although landfills are used for waste management in Maine, concerns have been expressed about increasing costs, environmental issues, and health risks. Some of those include air pollution, emission of methane gas, destruction of natural habitats for wildlife, groundwater contamination, and health threats to people who live near landfills.
Composting At A Community Level
Another form of waste management in Maine is composting. Food scraps are collected, mixed with a combination of nutrients, and compacted between layers of soil. The owners of Scrapdogs Community Compost Davis Saltonstall and Tessa Rosenberg said that nearly half of all the food waste sent to Maine landfills and incinerators each year could be composted.
“All material has the potential to be transformed into a new valuable resource, including food scraps,” they said. “By collecting and composting food waste, we not only reduce material sent to landfills and incinerators, but we recapture important nutrients and microorganisms, return them to local soils, and promote stronger and healthier local food production and consumption.”
ScrapDogs Community Compost is a Rockland-based composting operation servicing 700 customers in the midcoast region from Belfast to Thomaston, the Kennebec Valley region from Waterville to Hallowell, and commercial-only customers between Wiscasset and Warren. They’re currently working on expanding services to Gardiner, Farmingdale, and Randolph. They collect food scraps from residential customers, schools, non-profits, businesses, restaurants, cafes, and community events such as the Lobster Festival.
Food scraps which they collect for composting include fruits, vegetables, bread, dairy products, meats, bones, pits, skins, and cooked food. Yard wastes such as leaves, grass cuttings, deceased house plants, and plant debris are also accepted. Uncoated paper such as paper towels, napkins, paper coffee filters, tea bags, and chopsticks are also accepted. Items with paper coatings shouldn’t be contributed to prevent PFAS (a hazardous substance which has contaminated some Maine wells) from entering compost. Scraps are placed in special buckets provided to customers after they register. Then buckets are transported to a farm where the scraps are converted into compost.
“We bring the food scraps we collect to our composting facility in Washington, Maine, where we mix them with wood chips and manure based on our predetermined recipe,” Rosenberg said. “We utilize an open windrow process, where the compost piles are mixed and turned on a regular schedule optimized to Department of Environmental Protection standards. The piles take approximately three months to break down completely, and are then left alone to cure for six months before being screened. The finished compost, approved for organic use by MOFGA, is then returned to our customers or sold locally.”
Benefits of Composting At A Community Level
According to Rosenberg, the most important benefit of composting at a community level is that it keeps food waste out of landfills and incinerators, which helps to reduce the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions associated with landfills, and helps to combat the growing impact of climate change. There are also the benefits of the compost itself, which not only increases plant growth and health but also increases biodiversity, improves soil quality and structure, retains water and nutrients, and reduces runoff and compaction, she said.
For more information about ScrapDogs Community Compost, visit scrapdogscompost.com.
