Transfer Station Offers Free Compost Drop-off for Town Residents
Free Composting Drop Now Offered at GB Transfer Station
Composting of food waste is now easier in Great Barrington for people who don’t reuse food scraps for gardening.
In collaboration with Berkshire Compost, the town Transfer Station will now accept composted food waste from residents of Great Barrington and Housatonic. The program is free.
Compost is food waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill: scraps leftover from cooking or meals, cardboard and certain paper products. Composting your food waste significantly reduces the garbage that heads to the landfill. Compost is filled with nutrients used in farming and agriculture to fertilize soil.
“Composting is a natural, sustainable way to recycle food waste, it is used to build healthy soil for gardening and agriculture,” said Rebecca Jurczyk, health agent for the Great Barrington Board of Health. “Composting is easy and helps to replenish our nutrient depleted soils.”
Transfer station hours are Friday, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m., Saturday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Accepted compost includes:
- Fruit & vegetable peels
- Dairy, eggs, grains, bread
- Meat, fish, poultry
- Bones, shells
- Soiled cardboard
- Napkins, paper towels
Not accepted:
- Compostable-ware
- Coffee cups, wrappers
- Plastic, metal, glass
Berkshire Compost is a commercial composting company serving Southern Berkshire towns.
The composting program is a project of the Board of Health, which received funding from the Berkshire Public Health Appliance to pilot the program for one year.