A composting study to be completed early next year is being done as part of Mayor Steve Noble’s push to institute mandatory composting throughout the city, something he says will save the city a significant amount on its $1 million on garbage-hauling costs each year. “We are proceeding through the study on schedule and expect it to be completed by February,” Noble said in an email. “We have just concluded direct outreach to businesses about the interest and feasibility, as well as posted and gathered dozens of residential compost survey responses.”
“We have conducted waste sorts at parks, events and municipal buildings,” Noble added. “We’ll pull all this information together into a report that evaluates curbside composting options for the City.”
During this year’s campaign, Noble said that if he were re-elected in November it would be likely that a mandatory citywide composting program would be put in place. Noble, a Democrat, said in a livestream Freeman interview that he will push for such a program. He said the state is geared to adopt its own program by 2030, so why not get a jump on it to save money on city garbage disposal costs? “We’re going to be one of the first to get it done,” Noble said at the time of the interview.
Early estimates are that the city could save 30 percent on its $1 million a year cost to transport garbage if a composting system were in place, the mayor said. Toward that end, the study will outline how such a composting program could be developed. That study, Noble said, included “digging” through city trash to determine how much compost material was being tossed out.