This is a year of big changes for Green Mountain Compost. We appreciate your understanding and support as we transition toward an even more efficient and sustainable model of processing our community’s organics.
Here’s what’s happening
- We have discontinued our line of bagged products.
- We are no longer offering a “Bag Your Own” option at our facility.
- Green Mountain Compost (the CSWD composting facility on Redmond Road in Williston) will restrict sales to large-volume customers only and will no longer offer delivery.
Customers needing delivery or wanting to pick up less than two cubic yards of any of our products should contact one of our many resellers.
Larger volume customers or resellers should contact our office directly for information on our new pricing structure or to place an order.
We will continue to be open to all customers for drop-off of food scraps, leaves, or yard debris. - We are streamlining production to our three most popular bulk products: Complete Compost, Garden Mix, and Topsoil.
Green Mountain Compost bulk products will continue to be available for anyone to purchase at a growing list of local retail outlets, several of which offer delivery service as well as small truck and trailer loading. - We will no longer sell Mulch or Microbe Mulch
Why the changes?
Green Mountain Compost is a program of the Chittenden Solid Waste District. That means we’re driven first and foremost by a mission: To reduce and manage the solid waste generated within Chittenden County in an environmentally sound, efficient, effective and economical manner. CSWD’s Board of Commissioners, with input from staff and outside experts, have determined that we need to focus on how to most effectively and efficiently fulfill that mission. By trimming our product line to three core bulk products, we’ll be reducing our processing and marketing costs, (and our environmental footprint), while continuing to make quality compost and soil mixes that will go back into our community.
Looking ahead to 2020
To us, “waste” is just resources in the wrong place, and all our choices contribute to good stewardship of those resources.
Here’s how that plays out when it comes to food: Food that’s grown or raised for people should feed people. What’s left should be fed to animals when possible. After that, we’re back to our mission: How can we manage these resources in the most environmentally sound, efficient, effective and economical manner possible?
Vermont, and especially our Chittenden County community, has embraced this mission with gusto. The Vermont Food Bank has reported huge increases in donations of quality food in recent years. CSWD has seen a 169% increase in the tonnage of food scraps coming to our compost operation on Redmond Road in Williston since we opened the gates in 2011. We’re now keeping nearly 6,000 tons—that’s 12 million pounds–of food from being wasted in the landfill.
That’s incredible success! And with success comes challenges. We’re now at, and even beyond, our ability to handle these materials at Green Mountain Compost in the most environmentally sound, efficient, effective and economical manner possible.
After extensive research and input by our staff and outside experts, CSWD’s Board of Commissioners recognizes that to be ready for July 1, 2020 when state law (Act 148) will require everyone in Vermont to keep their food “waste” out of the landfill, we need to evolve and adapt.
In this spirit, we’re reducing our processing and marketing costs—and our environmental footprint–by trimming our product line to our three core products, and we’re streamlining how we distribute those products.
You can be assured that we’re continually seeking the best ways to help our community meet our goal of keeping valuable organics out of the landfill. We will be carefully monitoring the impact of these changes on our budget, our operations, and our community throughout Fiscal Year 2020 and will report those impacts to our Board of Commissioners. We welcome our community’s participation in that process.