Stamford upgrades its residential composter
STAMFORD — The Katrina Mygatt Recycling Center was bustling Tuesday as residents parked their cars and dropped off cardboard boxes, books, furniture and other items at the facility on Magee Avenue.
A few of those residents deposited food scraps into a bin that was sitting alongside a hulking green machine. It was the recycling center’s new composter, capable of processing five times as much food as the first machine the city purchased for the food scrap recycling program it launched earlier this year.
“I’d been looking for a compost program for a while,” said one resident, Bobbi-Sue Doyle-Hazard.
She cooks often, she said, and drops off food scraps at the center about twice a week.
“I'm happy that it’s getting used and we’re doing something … that's great for the planet,” she said.
The first machine — which could process 100 pounds of food waste a day — arrived in Stamford a few months ago after a delay caused by the blockage of the Suez Canal. The city started letting residents drop off food scraps at the recycling center in June.
Residents have been bringing 150 to 200 pounds of food waste to the center a day, said Dan Colleluori, the city’s director of recycling and sanitation. Up until Aug. 3, the facility was only open three days a week, so the extra food could be processed on the days it was closed. But now, the center is open five days a week.
So, the city got an upgrade. The new machine, which was not yet up and running early Tuesday afternoon, can process 500 pounds a day.
“For every 100 pounds we accept in that machine, we're taking out of the garbage, so we're saving money on the other side,” Colleluori said. “To me, it has the environmental benefit (and) the economic benefit to the city.”
The first machine cost $24,500, with shipping and a maintenance agreement included. The city upgraded to the new machine for $10,000.
The seller of the compost machines, EcoRich, gave the city a “major discount,” Colleluori said. The larger machine normally costs about $50,000.
Colleluori said the city has also applied for a federal grant so it can buy another composter that would be placed at a to-be-determined private facility in North Stamford.
The city holds recycling events in the neighborhood at the Scofieldtown Yard Recycling Center. Residents were able to bring food scraps to events in July and August.
At the July event, residents dropped off about 400 pounds of food waste, and the city paid a company called Curbside Compost to bring it to a compost facility, Colleluori said. In August, residents dropped off about 250 pounds.
But Colleluori said he wants North Stamford residents to be able to bring food waste to a site in their neighborhood more frequently.
Food scraps dropped off at the recycling center must be in compostable bags. Residents can buy a home recycling kit that includes a countertop bin, a roll of compostable bags and a transport bin from the city for $20. A roll of compostable bags on its own costs $2.
EcoRich’s machines reduce the volume of food waste by about 90 percent, turning 100 pounds of food, for instance, into about 10 pounds of compost, according to the company’s website.
Once the compost is “cured” and there is enough to distribute, residents will be able to take some home, according to an FAQ page on the city’s website.
More information about the compost program is available on Stamford’s town website.