RSU 16, comprised of schools in Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland, which recently made news for pushing back against a waste handling company trying to bill the schools for dumpster removal, is pushing ahead with their efforts to implement recycling and composting programs. RSU 16 schools are working to reduce waste and save money. As Read More
composting
Connecting Students to the Food They Eat…or Waste
Exciting things are happening at a rural school district in the heart of Central Maine. RSU 19, a geographically dispersed, rural school district between Waterville and Bangor, is comprised of eight towns: Corinna, Dixmont, Etna, Hartland, Newport, Palmyra, Plymouth, and St. Albans. These communities are among some of the hardest hit by continued cuts to Read More
Cutting Down the Volume of Household Trash Begins at the Grocery Store
by Kati Corlew Portland Press Herald news story EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a monthly four-part series about a group of professors at the University of Maine at Augusta undertaking the Zero-Waste Challenge. Can they live without generating any trash for the landfill or incinerator? I’m in the grocery store frowning. A group Read More
More Composting Resources
Maine Guide to Recovering and Composting Organics in Maine: An excellent resource from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Maine’s Compost School Biocycle: A national composting and organics recycling information hub. UMaine 2011 Waste Characterization Study : Showing that around 43% of our household garbage bags contain organic material (and 27 percent of which is Read More
Municipal Composting Programs
Municipal composting programs for food waste are few and far between in Maine, but there are many around the country and beyond. In Maine, most municipalities provide composting of leaf and yard waste, but few offer food scrap composting. Some towns partner exclusively with one of Maine’s compost collection companies to offer a discount for Read More
Home Composting Resources
Home composting is the most economical and environmentally sustainable way to manage household organic waste. Doing the work yourself, and preventing your organic materials from travelling to a compost site, saves money on any transportation and processing fees and reduces collection vehicle traffic and pollution. If you have a garden and the desire to maintain Read More
Maine Composting Companies
There are fantastic companies in Maine that make composting very easy and affordable. Those listed below offer a subscription-based service with regular pick up of your organic materials. They provide the bins, and some can even supply you with the finished compost! Garbage to Garden: Serving Greater Portland and beyond We Compost It!: Serving Great Read More
Why Choose Composting?
Organic Materials Don’t Belong in Landfills: Sending our organic waste, like food and yard waste, to landfills or incinerators is unsustainable. We need to move beyond the idea that our waste simply goes “away” and instead look for smart, effective ways to close the loop on our consumption patterns. Composting is nature’s way of recycling Read More
Tapping Maine’s Waste Stream for New Ways to Make Money
By Darren Fishell, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story PORTLAND, Maine — As a high-profile fight continues over waste management for 187 Bangor-area towns, a cluster of private businesses based in southern Maine are finding success carving out smaller niches within recycling programs here and, increasingly, elsewhere. The bottle redemption center operator Clynk announced Read More
