An industrial-sized, intermunicipal composting facility, capable of managing the county’s commercial and residential waste, could divert compostable material such as food scraps, brush and leaves from Warren County’s waste stream, shrinking it by as much as 40%.
A pilot project to test the feasibility of a county-wide composting program could be launched as early as next spring.
To fund the pilot, the Warren County Board of Supervisors has agreed to apply for a $200,000 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities Grant program – the same program that awarded Warren County $40,000 in 2023 to draft an Organics Management Plan.
The creation of an intermunicipal composting facility was among that plan’s recommendations, as well as that of a working group comprised of elected officials, county staff and volunteers which has been meeting since March.
According to Warren County Administrator John Taflan, the grant requires a $100,000 match.
In all likelihood, Taflan said, the composting facility will be created on county-owned land at an industrial park near the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport.
Bolton Supervisor Ron Conover, who chairs the Board’s Public Works Committee, was among those who voted to submit the grant to the state and to appropriate the matching funds.
“We’re moving forward with the idea that we can reduce our waste stream; that is consequential both for our finances and for the environment,” said Conover. “Composting is an important issue that every single community can benefit from,” said Assemblyman Matt Simpson, a Republican from Lake George, speaking at the annual meeting of the Adirondack North County Association (ANCA) at Fort Ticonderoga on July 24.
“Composting is an important component of Zero Waste,” said ANCA’s Organics Recycling Coordinator Jennifer Perry, speaking at that same meeting.
“Conventional wisdom has it that composting is a cute little backyard thing,” said Perry. “But the potential impacts of diverting food scraps from landfills to a composting facility are substantial, and, in my opinion, undervalued.”
Among other things, “there are significant greenhouse gas impacts,” she said.
According to New York state officials, methane from food rotting in landfills, gasses from waste incineration and carbon from trucks hauling garbage from one county to another are responsible for at least 12% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
If New York is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 85% before 2050, as required by state law, it must reduce food loss and waste by almost as much.
Another impact of composting: replacing and replenishing soils.
“We have a soil crisis in this country,” said Perry. “Tons of topsoil are lost every year due to erosion, which composting can mitigate. In fact, if waste is reimagined, it can mitigate a swath of impacts.”
Two Tons a Week to be Composted
Approximately 115 tons of compostable materials are generated by Warren County residents, institutions and businesses every day, the 2023 Organics Management Plan found.
During the pilot project, the amount of food scraps to be composted would be limited to two tons per week, collected solely from individual households, said Kevin Hajos, the county’s Superintendent of Public Works.
Those taking advantage of the program will, in all likelihood, be “early adopters – people in the know who understand the process,” said Scott Royael, the county’s Solid Waste and Recycling Compliance Coordinator,
Five-gallon buckets will be distributed to a few, carefully selected municipal transfer stations, where they will be taken home by those participating in the program, filled with food scraps and returned to the transfer station before being taken to the composting facility.
Pilot Project to Collect Data
According to Supervisor Conover, information from the county’s largest generators of food scraps, as well as from private, commercial garbage collectors, should be gathered during the pilot project.
“We have discussed bringing a couple of those larger producers on board,” said Royael.
According to Royael, regional supermarket chains are now required by law to compost organic waste, but many haul it to centralized facilities rather than to county or municipal centers.
New York’s 2022 organics recycling law requires upstate grocery stores, restaurants and institutional facilities to compost organic waste, but it does not necessarily mandate the use of those nearest them, said Royael.
The use or the lack of use of a county facility by supermarkets and other large generators may or may not impact its profitability, Royael indicated.
“We should also maintain a dialogue with our private waste haulers,” said Conover.
They, too, are required to comply with the 2022 state law.
The Economics of Composting
Finished compost is nutrient-rich soil, highly prized by landscapers, gardeners, small farmers and others who may desire alternatives to chemical fertilizers.
Among the topics to be studied during the pilot project is the economic potential of a composting facility, which would include not only the revenues from tipping fees but from the sale of high value compost product.
According to ANCA’s Jen Perry, “many facilities cannot make enough make enough compost. The demand is substantial.”
“As part of the pilot project’s data collection, we need to conduct a market analysis,” said Royael. “That will help us determine if we should move forward with a large composting facility.”
“The escalating costs of transportation and disposal might also require it,” said Conover. “They’re no small item.”
