BCAT News

Three dozen families signed up for residential composting under a partnership between the Town of Burlington and Black Earth Compost that began in July of last year. 

Sixty-five households were already signed up with Black Earth prior to the program beginning, and according to DPW Director Brian White, there were 101 families signed up as of August, 2024. 

“I guess there’s two ways you can look at it,” White said. “The pessimistic view would be there’s only 100 out of several thousand households or optimistically it’s nearly doubled in only a year of partnering.”

The more residents sign up, the cheaper the program becomes; if 200 more families sign up, the rate goes down from $20.99 a month for weekly pickup on a monthly subscription to $16.99 for the same plan. 

“I think the partnership approach at this point in time works out great during the adoption period. Partnering will direct new households to Black Earth so that, at certain subscriber milestones, they decrease their fees. By partnering we can hopefully help lower costs for users while not increasing operating costs/tax burden.” 

Black Earth picks up residential food scraps and turns it into compost, which it then sells to customers and garden centers across New England. Burlington schools began offering composting services in its kitchens through Black Earth in January of this year.

You can learn more about Burlington’s residential compost collection plan here.