Greenfield Compost Co-Op offers curbside service to residents

GREENFIELD – Residents living in the downtown area will be able to participate in the Greenfield Compost Co-op beginning today.
Revan Schendler, of Greenfield, said the expansion of services provides an opportunity for residents to get involved in cutting down waste.
“This is a really excellent opportunity to cut down trash on both the amount and the smell,” Schendler said. “In a time where people feel powerless about climate change, compost pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, making it an effective carbon sink.”
There are two options available for residents: weekly pickup for $24 a month or every other week pickups which are $15 a month. Customers prepay one month in advance.
The program is only being offered to residents in the downtown area. The area covered is as north as Silver Street, east of the border of Route 91, north of Deerfield Street and west of Parkway Street. To see the map of the area residential service is offered, visit the co-op’s website listed below.
Pickup will be 9 a.m. on Monday mornings.
A rinsed five-gallon food-grade bucket is provided to residential customers with every pickup. The buckets are sourced from local markets, food processors and restaurants — in an effort to keep as much plastic out of the landfill as possible, according to Schendler.
The materials will then be hauled to Martin’s Farm, which the co-op has partnered with for composting.
Schendler is a founding worker-owner who taught a Greenfield Community College sociology course at the jail and had volunteered for a “co-op academy” think-tank that spawned the idea for the co-op.
The compost co-op was developed in 2018, to give businesses and residents the ability to get rid of compostable waste and also provide former Franklin County House of Correction inmates a chance to run their own business.
With a used one-ton pickup truck with a lift gate, the co-op started by collecting compostable material from the People’s Pint, Hope & Olive, Magpie, Mesa Verde and the town of Whately.
According to Schendler, the group saves seven tons of food scraps a month that would otherwise go to a landfill. She said the compost created is nutrient-rich, helps to prevent erosion and reduces the need for pesticides.
“Not only does this co-op help to be able to enrich the soil,” Schendler said. “It helps rebuild lives.”
For more information or to sign up for residential services visit: https://www.thecompostcooperative.com/residential-services.