Composting in Warwick: A Program Grows … and Grows
By Geoff Howard
Under the auspices of Sustainable Warwick (SW), a community-based organization whose name says exactly what they focus on, a small program was launched in the summer of 2022 to encourage composting of food scraps.
With the Sunday Farmer’s Market in the Village of Warwick as their once-a-week collection point, the program had a very modest start. The first Sunday saw a total collection of two 5-gallon buckets, but the seed of a good idea was definitely planted and as seeds do, the idea grew.
By the end of the Farmer’s Market season at Thanksgiving, weekly collections stood at 23 buckets and a compost partnership had been established with local farmer Dan Doyle who agreed to not only accept the weekly compost drop-offs, but to “work” the pile, covering each delivery of fresh “green” matter with a layer of “brown” matter which he had on hand.
It was during the winter of 2022–23, the off-season for the Farmer’s Market, that the community composting program got an important new partner. The Village of Warwick and it’s DPW saw the value of the program, not only as a “good thing,” but as a way to significantly reduce the waste stream and save the municipality money.
They donated four 27-gallon bins and, even more importantly, agreed to transport those filled bins each week to and from Dan Doyle’s farm, and to wash them out and make them ready for the following Sunday. So when the Farmer’s Market opened in April 2023, SW volunteers now had only to collect the compost and leave the bins sealed and neatly stacked.
The program’s growth continued. From that season-starting point of four bins, the weekly amount of compost collected grew steadily to where it is now, mid-October, at more than ten bins, a number that will almost certainly grow dramatically.
One of the reasons for the growth to date and for the anticipated future growth is the arrival of yet another critical partner. Josh Liepke, one of the co-managers of Eddie’s Road House, a popular restaurant on Warwick’s Main Street, reached out to SW and said “the restaurant wanted to help,” which turned out to be an understatement.
Josh now makes weekly runs to Dan Doyle’s farm with three or four bins of Eddie’s closely screened compost of green food scraps. Even more important, he has offered to not only help SW reach out to other Warwick eateries, but to conduct orientation and training programs for those restaurants that choose to participate.
The future: Promise and Challenge
At this point, the Warwick Community composting program has exceeded all expectations and those early two-buckets-a-week Sundays are in the distant past. As we look down the road, significant future growth is almost assured … and therein lies the challenge, an exciting one to be sure, but a challenge nonetheless.
One of the avenues SW is currently exploring is to find new partners, and one such partner has already announced himself. Ermin Siljkovic, the Orange County Recycling Coordinator and a very knowledgeable composter, has joined forces with SW.
At the County level, one of the most promising prospects is a state-of-the-art composting facility that may come on-line in 2024. When that happens, the problem of where the compost goes and how it is treated, may be basically resolved.
In the meantime, however, growth will continue and will need to be accommodated. Towards that end, discussions will be conducted with the Town and Village of Warwick about having an all-year capability — more than one day a week, more than one location where residents can bring their compost — with workable arrangements for transport and handling.
In addition, locations for compost piles in addition to Dan Doyle’s farm will be needed. One possibility that will be pursued is to attract other sustainability-sensitive farmers, especially ones who might be able to use some of the finished compost.
Based on the amazingly positive track record to date, however, optimism remains high that new partners will be found, new ways forward will announce themselves, and that the seed that got planted in the summer of ’22 will blossom into a beautiful community endeavor.
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