Did you know more than 30 percent of the food produced in the United States is never eaten? The town of Readfield understands the seriousness of that statistic and launched a new food recycling program on Saturday to combat that issue. “For over 25 years the department has been trying to move food scraps away from disposal, and one of the projects that is doing that really well, is the Readfield, Fayetteville, Wayne transfer station compost operation,” said Mark King, Organics Management Specialist for the Maine DEP.
The town’s new program was made possible with help from The Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and one of their partially funded programs Food Rescue Maine. Residents of Readfield, Fayette, and Wayne can take part in recycling their food waste by using a compost container provided by the project.
All they have to do is bring the container to the town transfer station, where it will be emptied into the new metal compost container. “When that container is full, it’ll then be taken across the street to the compost site where it will be incorporated into the compost pile,” said King. For folks who want to do all of their recycling and composting from home, Brooks Trap Mill in Thomaston has made it possible.