Windham Solid Waste Receives Funding to Expand Composting Facility
The composting facility at Windham Solid Waste District is going strong. As the second-largest food scrap composting facility in Vermont, it has become a solid source of revenue for the district, generating about $100,000 a year, and taking in food scraps from the 18 towns that make up the waste management district, along with byproducts generated from food and furniture production in the region.
Brattlegrow Compost is a popular product around the region, showing up in outlets from Swanzey to Wilmington. And of course, this facility supports the Town of Brattleboro’s popular curbside composting program – the only municipal program of its kind in the state.
Windham Solid Waste Management District (Brattleboro, Vermont), donated approximately 15 cubic yards of its “Brattlegrow” compost to six area schools for use in their vegetable gardens.
However, currently the composting facility is at its maximum permitted capacity. It has had to turn away new sources of food scraps as Act 148, Vermont’s “Universal Recycling Law,” continues to increase the amount of food scraps generated in the region. (Find out more about Act 148 here – on July 1, 2020, all listed recyclables, leaf and yard debris, clean wood scraps, and food scraps became illegal to throw away in the trash.)
Bob Spencer, WSWMD’s longtime executive director, has a big vision for an upgraded and expanded state-of-the-art composting facility, which would more than double the district’s current capacity, recapture heat from the composting process as a source of renewable energy, and allow for future expansion as needed. The project will cost around $700,000.
Spencer applied for assistance through BDCC’s Community Facilities Technical Assistance program and received a $4,000 award to pay for preliminary design and cost estimates. Having this information in hand, WSWMD was able to successfully apply for a USDA Community Facilities grant, receiving an award of $150,000.
Putting this USDA award together with surplus funds from the district and other state funding, Spencer has been able to cover the costs of the expansion and expects to break ground in the fall of 2023.
“What we do here really does have an economic impact,” Spencer commented, pointing out the businesses that WSWMD supports by providing an affordable option for compostable waste disposal, along with the half-dozen retail outlets where the finished product is sold. “So much of it is all about the partnerships.”
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The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) is a private, nonprofit economic development organization that serves as a catalyst for industrial and commercial growth throughout Southeastern Vermont, including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, Winhall and Weston. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area. BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont. This BDCC activity was made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/
