New curbside compost carts will be here soon!
They can be purchased Saturday, August 1st at the Nelson Withington Ice Rink at Memorial Park from 10 am – 2 pm.
After August 1st they can be purchased at WSWMD (both 13-gal and 21-gal) or at the Municipal Center (only 13-gal.)
Also, a limited munber of telescoping handles (for the 13-gal carts) will be available.
Item / Cost:
13-gallon cart ($10)
Telescoping handle ($6)
21-gallon cart ($18)
Sure Close kitchen containers ($10)
If money is tight
For a slightly lower cost, folks can pick up the plastic paint canisters sold at Brown & Roberts and other hardware places, with a tight lid. I think we paid about $5 for the bucket and another couple bucks for the lid.
After that, all it takes is a bit of decoration with a permanent marker to label it as the compost container.
Without curbside compost and recycling, PAYT would be unbearable. With them, it still is a lot of work (it feels like we spend all day sorting things), but paid bag use can be reduced, if you can do composting.
Recall when PAYT was first presented – we had recycling every other week, trash pickup each week, and no composting. Many appropriately squealed and pointed out that we needed these other tools to make it work. We asked for carrots rather than sticks, and, with a bit of a fight, got them.
Until I'm living in an
Until I’m living in an apartment that has space to compost I still feel like PAYT is a stick. A big, expensive one at that.
Right
And that’s still a problem for us to solve. Anyone have any good ideas?
Often is is people without a lot of extra cash that are forced to live in smaller spaces, so this becomes a double burden. Unable to afford the extra space required to be able to save money by composting comes across as a low-income penalty.
There must be a solution, some way, some how...
I am not sure of the volume of compostables you are creating, but I would suggest starting with an open plastic bucket under your sink. Open is better than closed because the air encourages aerobic decomposition rather than the smellier anaerobic decomposition. If you have no sink or space under the sink…
Are any landlords out there setting up creative ways for their tenants to respond to the PAYT system?
In a few years the State of Vermont is going to ban all organic materials from landfills. This will mean that composting will no longer be a cost saving option but a legal requirement.
Andy
Question about large apt. buildings
I am still wondering who exactly PAYT applies to. Is it all residents & businesses or are large apt. buildings and businesses exempt? If larger buildings and businesses are exempt, what mechanism is in place to ensure that they are not contributing to the landfill problem?
As I have stated in numerous
As I have stated in numerous other posts there is no room – anywhere in my kitchen for a compost bucket. I have 16″ of counter space next to my sink and under the sink there is about 8 or 9″ of space due to how low the pipes are. I keep my cleaning supplies in that space because there are only 2 very small cabinets. I would not be able to keep an open bucket under the sink even if there was more space due to the frequent mice visitors that stop by.
I think there are some landlords who have tried to help their tenants with PAYT – either by providing some bags or trying to help with composting/recycling issues. I wish my landlord were one of those people but he isn’t.
I know that people who are quite happy with all the aspects of PAYT like to believe that it works really well for everyone. It doesn’t. There is a large population of people in this town who are finding the parameters of this program quite challenging and expensive to participate in. As I have said before PAYT is not one size fits all and it’s never going to be.Vermont needs to address the very real problems that accompany this program and Brattleboro needs to do that locally.
I'd like us to solve this
Hi K.,
Some people forget/don’t know how tight some living spaces really are. And for us to say PAYT works, we have to find ways for it to work for everyone.
As it stands, someone without enough space is currently paying a penalty. I’m not sure how many PAYT bags you’ve gone through so far, but we have yet to put one out. It is still filling. Might get another couple of weeks out of it.
So, just because we are lucky enough to have a bit of space to make it work, we save more money than someone like you. That doesn’t seem fair.
Telling people in your situation to just try harder (you must have room at the end of your bed, right? How about hanging it form the ceiling?) isn’t really that helpful.
My two ideas so far for people in small spaces:
1. Maybe there’s a way to put a small compost bucket where the trash currently is, and maybe then it would be easier to stuff things into a PAYT bag in another location? The idea here is that perhaps it would be easier to find a small space for the PAYT bag – easier than finding the slightly larger spot for compost?
2. Maybe we need some sort of rule for landlords of small apartments. If the space is less than X square feet, a solution must be provided. I’m not sure what that is, exactly, but maybe the answer lies in a square footage exemption?
We’re smart people and all these new rules are first-attempts. We can change things to make it work for everyone. I suggest that working on small spaces might be a good use of time.
Thanks for your reply, Chris.
Thanks for your reply, Chris. It is very frustrating (not to mention irritating!) to constantly be told that this program would work fine for everyone if we would just “try harder to make it work”. I would love to be able to compost. Despite my small kitchen I do cook a lot and I would say that at least half of my trash is food scraps. The next largest proportion is bags of used cat litter. I actually generate very little “trash’. I’ve tried really hard to figure out a way to compost – I’ve moved stuff around in my kitchen – I’ve tried putting my kitchen trash container in the hallway with my recycling containers ( I got a notice from my landlord about that!)As much as I complain about the PAYT program I’m actually very much for reducing the amount of stuff we throw into landfills. I have a grandchild – I’d like there to be some resemblance of a livable earth left for him and his children. There needs to be some serious rethinking done about how to make this program work for everyone – not just those people who own their homes and have lots of space and garages or sheds to store trash/recycling/compost in or for those who live on something other than a low, fixed income. I think people WANT to participate and it needs to be easier for those of us who are struggling to make this work – either financially or space wise. (which actually translates into a financial burden)I don’t think the people who were involved in implementing this program took the time or maybe weren’t willing to look at how this would or wouldn’t work for all of the people who live in this town.
I really appreciate you recognizing that there are flaws in this program and that it’s a real challenge for lots of people.
Kris Alden
ideas
What about attaching a hanging waste basket to your existing container? As an example, take a look at the following link: http://www.buschsystems.com/recycling-waste-bin-products/hanging-waste-basket/
If it’s too expensive to purchase something like this, I wonder if you can come up with a similar, homemade solution.