Earth Machine Compost Bins

compost hands

Are you interested in backyard composting? If so, please check out the Earth Machine Compost Bin to see if this is the composter for you! The Department of Public Works and the Sustainability Committee alongside the MA DEP are happy to offer this bin to North Andover residents for $35.00 plus tax (totaling $37.19). Please head to the North Andover DPW to pick yours up today!  Please bring a check with you for the full amount of $37.19 made out to the Town of North Andover. 

Composting is when organic materials in things such as food and yard waste, decompose and create a nutrient rich soil that people often refer to as “black gold.” By composting, not only can you create this super soil that you can add to your garden, lawn and house plants, but you can also remove hundreds of pounds of this organic matter from your household waste every year. And by reducing the garbage that you have, you reduce the garbage that is transported from your curb each week to Holt Road where it is then burned. Why burn these materials and add to possible air quality degradation when you can compost it and reuse it at home!?

Things in your everyday life that can be composted!

From your Kitchen: almost all food scraps!

  • Fruits and veggies
  • coffee grounds and filters
  • peanut and egg shells
  • rice, grains, flour,
  • stale cereal and bread
  • tea leaves and bags (take the staple out first though)
  • ...and almost all your other table scraps you have after prepping or eating a meal

**The only food items they don’t recommend you compost are meat and bones, dairy products, grease, fat, oil or fish scraps. That’s it!

From your yard:

  • leaves
  • weeds and bark
  • lawn clippings (treated lawn clippings not recommended because it can then leach the chemicals into your new super soil)
  • pine needles
  • dead plants
  • wood ash (again, treated wood not recommended)

So when you put in some leaves and grass clippings on the bottom of your bin, then you start adding in food, you want to have about a 50/50 ratio of these materials to create a good soil….add a little water and mix it around every once in a while and viola, within about 4 to 6 months, black gold super soil! With composting (and also recycling paper, cans, plastics and cardboard), a family of four can decrease their garbage from about 3 or 4 bags of trash a week to just one! If you are interested, please contact the DPW today.