Sustainability Committee

Recycling and Solid Waste

Sustainability Committee

Beyond the Bin Municipal Waste Reduction | Email Us | Follow Us on Facebook
 

Green Schools Program-- Reduce waste in our schools and incorporate composting of food scraps and other organics to promote sustainability for our children’s future. In 2018 we received a sustainable materials grant from the MADEP that enabled our district to begin lunchroom sorting to reduce their waste. Prior to Covid-19, 4 of our 8 schools were composting at lunch (diverting over 30,000 pounds of organics that year alone!).  

Though the program was put on hold at these schools due to the pandemic, we have been able to successfully begin the program again at all 8 schools!  In just 7-months, Sargent, Atkinson, Franklin, Thomson, Kittredge, NAMS, ABECC and the High School there have diverted over 34,000 pounds (17.25 TONS) of food scraps and other organic matter (lunch trays, napkins, brown lunch bags) from going to the trash, and instead are being picked up by our compost haulers Bootstrap Compost and Black Earth Compost, and turned into nutrient-rich soil, that can be used again to plant crops. That is an average of 2,000 pounds per week!

In addition, we are saving upwards of 60 trash bags per day across the school cafeterias, lessening the amount of trash we have, and in turn trash bags we are using.  This is a significant amount of waste that would otherwise go into a landfill or over to the trash plant on Holt Road in North Andover to be incinerated, but instead is being sorted so that the organic matter we generate is instead going to local farms in Massachusetts and being gradually turned into compost so more food can be grown.

Please click on the North Andover Green Schools sidebar for more information.

Promote backyard composting by educating the community on the benefits of this waste reducing practice that will also help your gardens. Currently our Committee, along with the DPW, are doing a promotion selling the Earth Machine compost bin for only $37.19. To purchase, please head down to the North Andover DPW with a personal check made out to the Town of North Andover and they will get you your compost bin to take home and start reducing waste and making black gold of your own! Please click on the "Earth Machine Compost Bins" side bar on the left for more information.

 

Trash & Recycling Schedule Information

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Board Members

Name Title
Jim Stanford Member