Letter: Community Composting Venture
Sustainable Warwick's composting initiative continues and expands
Hi Jessica,
In case you haven't heard the latest about our Food Scraps to Compost program, we'd like to let you know what we have been up to!
Every Sunday we are at the Warwick Valley Farmers Market collecting food scraps from some very faithful contributors as well as cutting the tops off carrots and beets for the shoppers passing by our booth. We also get a sizeable donation of greens and other produce scraps from the farmers there at the market.
We are averaging eight 27-gallon bins full of scraps per week! It's a big effort that happens by the good graces of the Farmers Market folks who provide the space for us for free, the Village of Warwick DPW who haul all that over to Dan Doyle's Oasis Farm where he and his staff maintain our 2 huge piles of compost for us, and last but certainly not least are the many volunteers who sign up to take a shift on Sundays at the Compost Booth! These folks keep coming back to pitch in, enjoying the camaraderie and satisfaction they get from being involved and interacting with the contributors. And don't forget the folks who save up their scraps all week and then bring them to us—we get over 50 contributors each Sunday! None of this amazing stuff would happen without the coordination and good will of all of these people.
Right now we are eagerly awaiting the finishing of our first compost pile! It will be the culmination of our collective efforts by way of rich soil to be donated back to the Village and local gardening groups.
Would you like to be a part of this rewarding project?
We are setting up our September - October volunteer schedule and would welcome your participation! If you are feeling unsure, we always pair a newbie with an old hand who knows the ropes. The shifts are 9:00 to 11:30 and 11:30 to 2:00. All the details are here and you can always reach out to us if you have questions.
Thanks for your interest and support of this project; whether by volunteering, bringing us your scraps, composting in your own backyard or simply by being informed and cheering us on!
Happy composting!
Geoff, Christy, Kate and Maureen
SW's Compost Committee
“When food rots in a landfill, it produces huge amounts of methane — a greenhouse gas at least 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide. But in compost bins, microbes convert that organic matter into nutrient-rich soil, keeping the carbon out of the atmosphere and producing valuable fertilizer. Project Drawdown, a nonprofit researching the best ways to reduce planet-warming emissions, reports that increasing composting around the globe could generate carbon savings equivalent to taking roughly 15 million passenger vehicles off the road for 30 years.”
- The Washington Post
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