Town Starts Food Scrap Collection Pilot Program 'Feed The Earth'

BRANFORD, CT – 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.

"This circumstance will shrink capacity and shake up waste collection and processing statewide," according to a news release about the program. "Due to this, municipal leaders are thinking of ways to reduce and recycle more, making food waste an attractive solution to the problem."

“Food scraps are a resource, not waste, and should be recycled to create nutrient-rich compost and energy, rather than being incinerated or landfilled," Alex Williams of Blue Earth Compost said, hailing the pilot program as a "big step in the right direction.”

Williams' company has been working with homeowners and businesses since 2013 to address this issue. Since the beginning of this year he’s had many more conversations involving municipalities. The program in Branford will be one of the first in the state to be implemented.

“Connecticut can sustainably process all its own waste. A big part of that is making composting and recycling a top priority,” Williams said.

Participants of the collection pilot will receive a 4-gallon pail lined with a compostable bag. Each week a collection driver will take the material inside the container and wrap a new bag around the handle. Those utilizing the transfer station program will be able to drop off their compostable material in specially marked containers during normal operating hours.

The material collected by Blue Earth Compost will be hauled to Quantum Biopower, an anaerobic digester, in Southington. At this facility energy is produced from harvesting the biogas released by food during decomposition and burning it in a generator. The result is a Class I renewable energy and a soil amendment product that becomes compost after additional processing.

Interested residents can contact Blue Earth Compost to get signed up for the pilot program or learn more about the transfer station program at www.blueearthcompost.com or (860) 266-7346.