Southold became the second municipality on Long Island to launch a food-scraps-to-compost program. On Friday, Dec. 13, Southold town officials and several environmental partners held a ribbon cutting ceremony at the town’s Transfer Station on Cox Lane in Cutchogue, inviting residents to stop throwing their food waste into the garbage and instead bring it to the bins where it will be transformed into black gold — as environmentalists call it — compost that will be used to enrich soil across the North Fork.
With a 6-foot wall of compost facing them, about 30 people gathered in the 30-degree sunshine in the northeast corner of the dump as Nick Krupski, Southold’s Solid Waste Coordinator, Mark Haubner, North Fork Environmental Council president, Town Board Member Greg Doroski and Southold Supervisor Al Krupski spoke about the significance of this environmental milestone.
This will be a yearlong pilot project similar to the program at the Riverhead Waste Disposal Facility, which became permanent and recently added a second drop-off location at the George Young Community Center in Jamesport.
“This has been a long time in coming. Even before I came into office, Mark was calling and emailing me about setting up a compost program. Then when I got in, I said, ‘I need more time,’ and he said, ‘How much time?!’” Nick Krupski joked.
“Today is all about partnership and collaboration,” Mr. Haubner said. “Behind everyone here is another 10 people who were instrumental in making this happen. We hope this project will change people’s minds and have their food scraps become compost. If everyone in Southold participates, we could save $600 a day in carting costs diverting food from the waste stream,” he added.
For Mr. Doroski, the focus was on how simple the process can be. “This is something people can do easily. It’s a resource to put back into the soil.” According to the EPA, the single largest volume of material in U.S. landfills is spoiled food. Registered participants will be offered compost on Compost Giveback Day, the date for which has yet to be determined.
“I encouraged everyone to sign up because it costs us a lot of money to ship our waste off Long Island, and this project will reduce the tonnage. Everyone’s concerned about our waste,” said Supervisor Krupski. He also said 30 Southold residents are already dropping their food waste here, and those who are interested in joining can sign up for free on the Town’s website.
About 30% of both towns’ waste is made of up food and yard trimmings, according to a NFEC press release. That translates to six tons per day of food waste in Southold and nine tons per day in Riverhead.
For project coordinator of the Long Island Organics Council, Francesca Greco, the impact of the program will be felt across the North Fork. “It’s great to see this type of municipally-run project cropping up on Long Island. I absolutely think people will participate in it.” She added that the giant compost pile of “browns” — leaf and brush — mixed in with food scrap waste, or “greens,” will add good bacteria and nutrients to our degraded soil to better filter out contaminants before they reach the island’s aquifer. LIOC will be educating people about the pilot through outreach at libraries.
Funding for the project comes from several New York State grants. Haubner said the goal for increasing composting from food scraps on Long Island, according to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), is to have the pilot program run until 2026 followed by the addition of food scraps from hospitals, nursing homes and schools over the next five years.