Make Magic: Compost

Summary: Compost to reduce your carbon footprint!

Description

Composting is easy magic! It turns food waste — which might now go into the trash or down the kitchen sink drain via the “garbage disposal” — into a rich, sweet-smelling soil amendment. Applied to garden beds, it enriches the soil environment for plants and for the millions of tiny decomposer organisms that live under our feet. Bonus: it reduces household trash volume significantly! 

Why compost?

• It reduces household waste by up to 50% (and makes the trash bin smell way better).
• Without organic waste in the trash, paper bags work very well to line the bin; this keeps many plastic bags out of landfills and incinerators.
• Right now, more than half of the trash that ends up in landfills is compostable organic matter that generates methane, and unburned methane is a greenhouse gas on steroids.         

How do I compost in Groton? In 2020, Groton initiated a partnership with Black Earth Compost, a full service compost company that serves MA, NH and RI. In exchange for establishing one of their composting facilities at the Groton Transfer Station, Groton residents are able to compost their household food waste for free at the facility as well as access free finished compost for their yards and gardens.  To know what CAN and CANNOT be composted at the Black Earth facility, check out their Compost Guide.

If you cannot make it to the transfer station, you can compost at home or take advantage of curbside food scrap pick up from Black Earth, available to Groton residents for $49.99 per 6 months. Visit our Steps to Take page to learn more about the different options for composting in Groton. To learn more about Black Earth’s Groton composting facility and the benefits of composting, visit our Deeper Dive page.

Deep Dive

For more details on the Black Earth Compost services available to Groton residents check out the flyer on the town website: Transfer Station - Town of Groton (grotonma.gov). 

Sustainable Groton hosted a seminar on Managing & Reducing Our Waste Stream in December 2023, where Bart Yeager from Black Earth Compost described their operations at the Groton Transfer Station. 

U.S. Food Waste Facts 

• Food waste is estimated to be 30–40% of the food supply. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

• According to the World Wildlife Federation, the production of wasted food is equivalent to the greenhouse emissions of 37 million cars. (RTS)

• Food “waste” is the single largest category of material municipal landfills, where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). Such solid-waste landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the U.S., accounting for approximately 14.1% of these emissions in 2017. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

• Food waste is a huge climate issue in the U.S. because, when it is placed in landfills, the anaerobic conditions cause its decomposition to generate methane, a potent GHG. By composting, we return this organic matter to the natural carbon cycle.

• Although home composting does not solve our national food-waste dilemma, it is an important step down a better path. Community-wide composting can make an even greater impact. Nature’s capacity for carbon drawdown is extraordinary, and returning food waste to the soil is a significant part of the equation. This is an action that most of us can take together, each in our own household, to increase the health of the soil and of the climate!

• Healthy soil provides additional benefits, as the illustration below demonstrates. (Thanks to the Mothers Out Front Massachusetts Healthy Soils group for the graphic.)

• It is estimated that for each ton of compost produced and used, one-half ton of CO2 can be sequestered in healthy soil. (BioCycle)

• For every four households that adopt composting sequester a half ton of carbon annually.

• Every 1% increase in soil organic matter — thus, soil carbon content — adds 1.4 acre-inches (approximately 38,000 gallons) of water-holding capacity.” (Healthy Soils and The Climate Connection)

Steps to Take

1. If you are interested in composting at home:

• Keep it simple. Four posts and some chicken wire will do for a start. It is best to have at least two side-by-side “bins”: one where the compost will mature, and one to hold grass clippings and leaves, which are important to layer with food scraps for faster and more complete decomposition. The leaves and grass clippings also discourage animals from searching out food scraps.
• Use a small bucket on your countertop or other covered containers to collect your food scraps and empty them regularly into your yard compost bin. These are nitrogen rich materials.  Please note that meat and bones are not suitable for home composting.
• Check out Composting at Home, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for more details

2. If you are interested in composting with Black Earth Compost at the Groton Transfer Station:

• Collect food scraps however it is convenient for you in a size container that meets your household’s needs until the next trip to the transfer station. For some, collecting scraps in a 5 gallon bucket stored in the garage with a SEALED top to deter unwanted critters is sufficient.