Facilities & Fleet Management

Backyard Composting

Click here for a flyer about purchasing a backyard compost bin

About 21% of what residents place in their trash carts is food waste. Don’t miss out on backyard composting! Benefits include:

• Fruit & vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells & yard waste become free nutrient-rich soil amendment on site.
• Return nutrients to the soil & plants.
• Save space in the landfill.
• You have lighter, easier to manage trash, requiring less trash bags.

Purchase a Compost Bin

The Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District sells two types of discounted compost bins – the Earth Machine and the New Age Composter. Please see a comparison of the two bins HERE. To purchase a compost bin, please follow these instructions:

• New Bedford and Dartmouth residents only, ID required.
• Both types of bins cost $25 each. Cash, check, or money order only. No credit or debit cards.
• Hours: Monday – Friday 7:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
• Address: Crapo Hill Landfill, 300 Samuel Barnet Blvd, New Bedford, MA 02745.
• Please go to the scale house.

Alternatively, you may purchase a compost bin from a store or online or make your own.

Composting tips

• How to assemble the New Age Composter video: https://youtu.be/08qDLLv1Hgc
• Poster: https://www.mass.gov/doc/poster-composting-is-easy/download
• Composting at home: http://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home

Composting Steps

1. Purchase or make a compost bin.
2. Find a container for collecting compostable materials e.g., a pot with a lid, a bowl, or a pail.
3. Place materials e.g., leaves, twigs, shredded paper, chipped brush, pine needles (pine needles should not make up more than 10% of total material in pile) fruit & vegetable wastes, seaweed, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds & filters in the compost bin.
   No meat, bones, fat, grease, oils, peanut butter, dairy products, cooked foods with sauces or butter, dog & cat manure, diseased plants, weeds gone to seed, weeds that spread by roots & runners (vines).
4. Want to help the decomposition process?

1. 1. Keep materials damp by adding water. A moisture level like that of a wrung-out sponge works well.
   2. After every 12 inches or so, add a few shovelfuls of rich soil or compost.
   3. Turn materials with a pitchfork or shovel. This allows oxygen into the center and bottom of the pile, preventing odors.

Making Your Own Compost Bin

There are many options for making your own compost bin:

http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/4-diy-compost-bins-you-can-build-one-day-video.html.

Another option for diverting food waste is to drop it off at the Recycling Center. Learn more here. For more information, call the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District at (508) 979-1493, or email Marissa@gnbrrmdistrict.org. Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hGoFFL for our twice a year e-newsletter about composting and waste reduction!

Contact Information