Branford residents will soon have the opportunity to put their food scraps to work making compost with two new programs being unveiled this spring. The campaign, Feed the Earth Branford, is a collaboration between the town and Hartford-based Blue Earth Compost. It will include home collection services for residents in the Short Beach neighborhood as well as a drop-off service at the transfer station on East Main Street. These programs are a pilot that will provide a feasibility study for what Town administrators hope to be a full scale program in the future.
“We have a responsibility to do what is best for the people of Branford both economically and environmentally,” First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove said. Cosgrove said the pilot program is a way for the town to be a leader in environmental sustainability while also getting out in front of potential waste issues that will affect Branford in the coming years. “Exploring ways that will improve the way we handle our waste makes sense,” he said.
Estimates from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection indicate that “upwards of a third of the material put into the trash can be composted.” As it is, food waste and other material that can be composted, along with regular garbage is incinerated in a waste-to-energy incinerator in Bristol. A different incinerator in Hartford will be shuttered in June 2022.