Compost
station keeps up with yard waste; 'black gold' always in demand
Tuesday,
July 10, 2007
Written
By JOHN HOWELL
It’s
“black gold.”
It’s
black all right and it looks like anything could grow in it.
Throughout
the week, piles of compost, or black gold, are carried off in pails, plastic
bags and trucks and trailers. On Saturday, the pace quickens and as much as 15
to 20 cubic yards of compost will be carried off.
These
days the compost station isn’t making news and that’s a good thing for David Picozzi, acting director of the Department of Public Works.
Last
year, under the threat of loosing its permit from the Department of
Environmental Management, Picozzi brought to and end
the long time practice of allowing commercial landscapers to use the facility.
Landscapers were charged a fee, but that didn’t offset the dilemma faced by the
department.
The
landscapers were upset. Closing the facility to them meant more time on the
road, as they traveled to the state landfill, and higher prices to the
customer.
“The
problem was that the volume was so huge that we couldn’t keep up with it,” said
Picozzi.
An
over-burdened compost station was not pleasant, especially for homeowners
nearby. The saccharine smell of rotting vegetation can be overpowering but
there was more to it than the odor. There were occasional fires and runoff from
the giant piles of decomposing leaves, grass and yard waste seeped into Buckeye
Brook.
It’s
not perfect now. The odor is still detectable on certain days, but not with the
same intensity.
Compost
piles are smaller and they are turned more frequently to speed up the
decomposition process.
The
department has also reduced operations off
Last
month, the DEM renewed the compost station permit. Picozzi
also reports that, since stopping contractor use of the facility, the city
hasn’t been cited by the DEM.
The
compost station is more than black gold.
It
is also the place where residents can get rid of brush and other yard waste,
although the city will pick that up weekly at no charge.
A
recent Tuesday morning found 62-year
“This
is super,” he said, “it’s special and unique. As a homeowner you’ve got no
space [to dispose of yard waste] and this is nice and convenient.”
Jon
Sears, who works at the station, and is no relation to Bill, says people need
to understand the facility isn’t just a dump.
“We
try to educate people,” he says.
Nonetheless,
there is the occasional homeowner who turns up with a truck full of building
debris or junk, hoping to dispose of it. The station will take boards and wood
stripped of nails that, like branches, can be put through the chipper and
turned into mulch. Bigger sections of trees cleared by the city or left at the
station are free for the taking.
“There
is a demand for the compost and mulch although there seems to be no rhyme or
reason to the market,” says Picozzi.
“It’s
on and its off,” said Picozzi.
There
will be times when the city can sell the processed compost for $12 a cubic
yard. And, every so often, Picozzi said, he’ll strike
a deal for 1,000 yards or more of semi-processed material. Then there will be
months where he can barely give it away.
The
demand from residents, however, never abates.
Sears
says one of the station’s regulars drives a motorcycle, taking away hardly
enough of the rich earth to fill a couple of flowerpots.
“He
lives in an apartment,” Sears explains.
As
he spoke, Leona Borday pulled up to the compost pile
and pulled an assortment of buckets and a shovel from her trunk.
Sears
gave her a hand separating the buckets.
Borday said she comes to
“I’m
too old for that,” she said.
But
she’s not too old to pick up some black gold for a neighbor.