Welcome
Welcome to the online home of the Addison County Solid Waste Management District. Here you will find details about our programs and services, district news and publications, and practical information to help you properly recycle or dispose of household and business waste items.
Ultimate Zero Waste DIY Guide
Learn how to make your own simple cleaning products, household items, and food staples to decrease packaging and industrial waste!
Fight Junk Mail and Paper Mailings
Junk mail is a constant source of frustration and waste for many Americans. Want to learn how to purge your life of all this junk? Find out here!
Simple Zero Waste Swaps
There are so many alternatives to disposable products, and many are just simple, one-time swaps! Here is a list of zero waste swaps to give you even more ideas on how you can reduce your waste.
Beginner’s Guide to Reducing Household Waste
Want to reduce your waste, but not sure how? We have compiled a list of 11 easy ways to reduce household trash. View to learn more!
Free Composting Workshops!
Addison County Solid Waste Management District (ACSWMD) is hosting a series of FREE backyard composting workshops, April through October. The workshops cover the basics of backyard composting: why food scraps should be diverted from the landfill, how to set up and manage a pile, uses for compost, and troubleshooting tips. Join us to learn more about the wonderful world of compost.
Registration is required only for workshops hosted at ACSWMD offices where space is limited. Please register by completing the online registration form. For more information call 802-388-2333 or email annina@acswmd.org.
Need Composting Supplies? ACSWMD sells compost bins, solar digestors, and kitchen collectors at the District Transfer Station in Middlebury.
2018 Backyard Composting Workshop Schedule:
- April 11th, 5 pm, Ilsley Library, Middlebury
- April 21st, 2 pm, ACSWMD Office, Middlebury
- May 12th, 10 am, Holley Hall, Bristol
- May 19, 10 am, Weybridge School Library
- June 9th, 10 am, Bixby Library, Vergennes
- July 12th, 7 pm, Platt Memorial Library, Shoreham
- July 21st, 2 pm, ACSWMD Office, Middlebury
- August 18th, 2 pm, ACSWMD Office, Middlebury
- September 15th, 2 pm, ACSWMD Office, Middlebury
- October 20th, 2 pm, ACSWMD Office, Middlebury
ACSWMD Is Seeking Volunteer Repair Experts!
Are you handy? Skilled at fixing household items? Passionate about reuse, repair, and helping out your neighbors? Then Addison County Solid Waste Management District wants to recruit you to help with Addison County’s Repair Café on Saturday, June 16!
Complete our Survey for a Chance to Win!
Take our short survey for a chance to win one of our fabulous prizes and share your thoughts on ways we can make trash and recycling collection in Addison County more convenient. Your responses will help us gauge interest in the development and location of a new regional drop-off facility for household trash, recycling, and certain additional special wastes. The District currently operates one centralized Transfer Station located in Middlebury that serves all member municipalities, but does not allow residents to drop off household trash and recycling.
This survey should take approximately 3 minutes to complete. Your responses will remain anonymous and are limited to one per household. If you wish to be entered into our prize drawing, please provide your name at the end of the survey (it will not be associated with your responses).
Prizes include $100 in Middlebury Money (accepted at almost 100 businesses in the Middlebury area), $75 gift certificate to Black Sheep Bistro in Vergennes, $75 gift certificate to Bobcat Café in Bristol, or one of two combo packages with reusable food wrap and produce bags (valued at $25 each).
Please call the District at 388-2333 if you prefer to complete the survey over the phone or would like us to mail you a paper copy.
Top 5 Reasons to Compost
Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law focused a lot on food scrap diversion and composting – but why? Why shouldn’t I chuck my banana peel into the garbage can? Find out why composting is such a big ‘dill’ here!
Valentine’s Day Waste Reduction Tips
Valentine’s Day is a day to show a little love to the people in your life. Unfortunately, our culture tends to show love in ways that produce a lot of waste. Keep the Earth in your heart this Valentine’s Day by doing what you can to reduce your waste!
How to Throw a Waste-Free Party
Planning parties can be stressful – for you, your wallet, and the planet. But it doesn’t have to! With a little planning, you can reduce your waste and environmental impact while also saving money. Check out these 8 zero waste party tips to learn how! Read more
Remember to opt out of Phone Books!
Top 5 Reasons to Recycle
We at the District are constantly encouraging our residents to recycle. But why? What are the benefits of recycling? Learn more here! Read more
NOTICE: Christmas Tree Pick-up Rescheduled!
Attention residents of Middlebury and Vergennes! Due to the extreme cold predicted for this Saturday, the Vergennes Lions Club and the Middlebury Rotary are pushing back the curbside Christmas tree pick-up until Saturday January 13th. Place your tree curbside the night before to ensure they are picked up on the morning of the 13th. If at all possible, please keep your tree away from the curb until it is closer to the pick-up date. This will help keep them from getting buried in snow or falling into the street. Thank you to all the volunteers who will be picking up the trees!!
Holiday Tips for Reducing Waste
Whether you are hibernating at home or braving the winter weather, there are lots of things you can do to reduce your impact to the environment and still be of good cheer. It’s easy to warm up to these reduce/reuse/recycle tips!
Read more
Adopted 2018 Rate Sheet
Click here to see the 2018 District Transfer Station rates, effective on January 1, 2018.
Hot Ash in the Trash: DON’T DO IT!
It’s that time of year again – fireplaces are roaring to keep us cozy in the cold weather. But once the fire is burned out, how should you dispose of hot ashes? Read more
To Flush or Not To Flush?!
Unsure of what to pour or put down your drain?! Here’s a nifty guide to make sure you keep your drain (and septic/sewer) happy and healthy.
ACSWMD receives Call2Recycle’s 2016 Leader in Sustainability Award!
District Issues Request for Proposal: General Liability Insurance and Worker’s Compensation Insurance
Information about Request for Proposals may be found here. Read more
Food Scrap Collection FAQ’s
Unsure about what the Universal Recycling Law (Act 148) is requiring? Don’t know what you have to do? Read some of the commonly asked questions we get from residents. If you think we’re missing something, let us know by emailing: acswmd@acswmd.org.
Not yet – residents are not required to separate food scraps from their trash until July 1, 2020. Facilities are required to offer food scrap collection by July 1, 2017 and haulers are required to offer food scrap collection by July 1, 2018. Some drop-off stations are considered facilities and therefore will begin this year. Some “mobile” drop-offs, while not required to begin until July 1, 2018, have already expressed interest in starting early. ACSWMD is offering resources to help residents, towns and haulers begin by July 1, 2017. Thanks to our local haulers, fourteen of our towns/ drop-offs are offering food scrap collection: Addison, Bridport, Bristol, Cornwall, Goshen (curbside only), Leicester, Lincoln, Middlebury (Desabrais), New Haven, Ripton, Shoreham, Starksboro, Vergennes (Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton and Waltham residents may also use this facility), Weybridge, and Whiting (starting in September). Only a few haulers have begun to offer curbside collection: Marci Hayes (Goshen), Draft Trash, and Moose Rubbish & Recycling. The haulers who are collecting at local drop-offs are: R&L, Moose Rubbish & Recycling, C&J Hauling, Van Denton, Desabrais Trash, Brenda Kimball, Webb and Sons and BK Services (will begin in September). Call them to inquire about pricing for food scrap collection. If you would like to bring food scraps to the drop-offs the haulers can charge for that additional service they are offering. However, if you wanted to bring your scraps to the District Transfer Station in Middlebury, you can do so at no charge Monday – Friday 7 am – 3 pm or Saturday 8 am – 1pm. Additionally, if you decided to compost at home, you would likely save money because most of the weight in your trash is food. Without food in your trash, you could cut down on your trips to the drop-off! What?? No! No one will be sorting through your trash to see if you have scraps in there. The point of the Universal Recycling Law is to help set up a statewide system to keep certain things from the landfill because of their harmful or noxious properties when they are in the landfill under anaerobic conditions. Food scraps, clean food and leaf and yard waste are all of those things. They both take up space and release methane gas when they are in a landfill, which is 21 times more harmful to the environment than CO2. The spirit of the law is to set up systems that would make it easier for folks to separate their scraps and other banned items from the landfill, and hope that folks do the right thing. If you are bringing your scraps to the drop-off you are allowed to put in meat, bones, fish, animal fats, etc. If you have a lot of used cooking oil, you can bring that to the Transfer Station in Middlebury and it will be turned into biodiesel. You CANNOT put pet waste into the food scrap bucket. If you decide to compost at home it is best to leave meat scraps and heavy dairy products out of your compost because it can attract vectors like raccoons, bears, etc. Home compost piles usually are not hot enough to properly break down meat scraps anyway, meaning that any potential pathogens on meat would not die and could harm your garden if you used the compost. For all of these reasons, it’s best to keep them out of your food scrap pile. Again, NO pet waste in your backyard pile either. If you compost at home, you are allowed to put your meat and bone scraps into the trash for landfill. However, you can also compost your produce scraps at home, and bring your meat scraps to the drop offs or Transfer Station! If you are looking to do something with your pet waste, and would rather handle your meat scraps right at home, one option is to purchase a Green Cone Solar Digestor which we sell at the Transfer Station for $125, or $63 if you have a voucher from our seasonal backyard composting workshops. Green Cones handle food scraps including meat, fish, bones and dairy, and can also handle pet waste. Click the link above to learn more! Remember, whether the food scraps are in your trash or in a separate container, it’s all the same material and if you have not had issues with vectors up to this point, you will likely be fine. However, if vectors get into your trash and you are concerned, we suggest keeping your food scrap bucket inside (i.e. your garage or a shed) until you are ready to bring them to the drop-off. If you are composting, make sure you layer your food scraps with a thick layer of browns (leaves) every time you bring food scraps out to your pile to dampen the smell. Also, turn it more. Once the pile becomes more homogenous, animals will not bother with it. Finally, minimize other bear attractants in your yard such as smelly garbage cans or dirty recycling, dirty BBQ grills, bird feeders, pet food, and citronella candles. Any of these things can attract a bear to your yard, who then decides to see what else he/she can find. It should be noted that no container is bear-proof. Reducing smells is key. And if for whatever reason none of the above suggestions work to keep the bear out of your yard and compost pile, there are products such as “predator pee” – mountain lion urine for instance – that you can purchase and sprinkle around your yard/pile and we’ve had folks from the NEK say this does a great job of keeping bears and other vectors away from your pile.Do I have to start separating my food scraps from my trash?
So, what do I have to do?
Technically you don’t have to do anything until July 1, 2020. However, if you did want to start separating food scraps from your trash early, you have so many options. If you would like to start separating food scraps for compost, see this backyard composting guide to get you started. If you would rather bring your food scraps to our Transfer Station for no charge, or bring them to your hauler at most local drop-offs in Addison County– you can download this info sheet for starters. Essentially, you just need a bucket to collect scraps and most likely a smaller container to collect scraps right in your kitchen (you can use a coffee can, sugar container, whatever is easiest for you! Even a plastic bag in your freezer works too, and eliminates any chance of fruit flies/odors). ACSWMD does sell a Kitchen Collector for $5 and also gives each household one free 5-gallon bucket for food scrap collection. Using the “IN” and “KEEP OUT” lists from the sheet on the left, just collect all of your food scraps into your bucket and once it is full you can bring it to your local drop-off, or bring it to the District Transfer Station in Middlebury.What drop-offs are collecting food scraps in Addison County?
What haulers in our area are collecting food scraps?
Can I use bags in my food scrap buckets?
Yes, you may either use paper bags to line your food scrap bucket, newspaper, or if you would like to purchase certified compostable bags (make sure it has this symbol on the left), you can use those too. Note, the compostable bags are not suitable for backyard composting, but small amounts of newspaper and paper bags will work fine.Will this cost me?
Are there trash police?!
What if I want to compost?
That’s the best option out there! It keeps the scraps (and their nutrients) local, you can make nutrient-rich compost in your own backyard, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions (from trucking those scraps up to the landfill, and then from the scraps breaking down in an anaerobic environment in the landfill itself) AND it will help you save money by reducing trash costs. If you would like to learn more about Backyard Composting – download this guide and call the District if you would like to sign up for a free beginner backyard composting workshop. You can also sign up for a 4-week online course to become a Vermont Master Composter that starts in Fall 2017. For more information – click here.What about meat? Bones? Oil? Pet waste??
What about bears? Rats? Raccoons?
Compost Bins and Collectors Available at District Transfer Station
Stop by the District Transfer Station to pick up a Soilsaver compost bin and a “Sure-Close” kitchen collector, and start composting at home! Turn food scraps and yard waste into rich, organic food for your garden. Food and yard waste combined represent about 25% of our waste. By composting these materials at home, we can save money while keeping waste out of landfills! Composting benefits everyone by reducing waste and helping summer vegetable and flower gardens flourish.
The Soilsaver is just $45, and when disassembled fits neatly into any vehicle. The handy “Sure-Close” kitchen collector is just $5.
The District Transfer Station is located at 1223 Route 7 South, in Middlebury, just south of the U.S. Forest Service Ranger Station. Hours are Mon-Fri, 7 am to 3 pm, and Sat, 8 am to 1 pm.
The Soilsaver ($45)
- 28″w x 28″d x 32″h
- Holds 11.4 cubic feet
- Made from sturdy recycled plastic
- Retains heat and moisture better than an open pile
- Keeps most animals out
- Removable convenient locking and self-watering lid
- Two slide-up doors for removal of compost
- Easy assembly
The “Sure-Close” kitchen collector (ONLY $5!)
- Durable, dishwasher-safe, and easy to clean
- Lid opens and latches closed easily with one hand
- Lid locks in open position for easier filling
- Lid perforations allow venting but stop insects
- Ergonomic handle and back grip for easy use
- Wide opening allows easy scraping of plates
Looking for a Trash or Recycling Hauler?
District Announces New Grant Program
In order to promote an increase in the amount of recyclable, compostable or reusable materials diverted from disposal, the District has established a new Grant Fund to provide funds for municipal capital projects that are consistent with our mission. Read more