Greenwich is offering residents another opportunity to cut down on what goes into their garbage by introducing a new food scrap recycling program. The program’s launch had been planned for April, but it was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Now, it will officially launch on Monday and will be free to all Greenwich residents who wish to take part.
“With the opening of the food scrap recycling program, Greenwich has taken another step toward the goal of becoming the most environmentally friendly and forward thinking town in the state, and to continue our commitment to a waste-free society,” First Selectman Fred Camillo said on Wednesday.
Participation in the pilot program is voluntary and open to all Greenwich residents with a permit to dump trash at the Holly Hill facility. In the program, residents are encouraged to collect their food scraps at home and then take them to the designated drop-off location next to the Holly Hill trash building. The material will then be taken to a commercial composting facility and turned into nutrient rich compost.
The town will accept meat and dairy products, tea bags, cut flowers, paper towels and napkins under the program.Food scraps are one of the largest components of trash sent to landfills and incinerators. According to the Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board, food scraps account for over 22 percent of municipal solid waste in the state. “Food scraps are a valuable resource that should be removed from the waste stream,” said Sally Davies, chair of the advisory board. “Why should we pay to throw this away?”
Recycling food scraps into compost captures nutrients and energy and returns them to the environment, accordg to Waste Free Greenwich. Julie DesChamps, the group’s founder, said composting food scraps can produce “a useful and valuable product that returns nutrients to the life cycle, resulting in cleaner soil, water and air.”