FARMINGTON — When a member of the town's Green Efforts Committee set up a table at the Farmington Library, people kept giving the same answer about composting their food scraps: "When the town's paying for it, I'll do it."
On Sept. 9, the committee found out what that would cost. A one-year pilot of two enclosed drop-off bins, where residents could leave food scraps instead of throwing them in the trash, came to $12,484 in a vendor's quote, plus the cost of a hauler to empty them.
The committee could pay for that itself. It has roughly $30,000 in a bank account of its own, by members' estimate. It did not spend any of it. The reason was a loop nobody in the room could solve that night.
The committee wants a pilot to show that residents will use the bins. A year of results would be its case to Town Hall for a permanent line in the budget. But the pickups would keep costing money after the pilot ended, and some members did not want to start a service the town might not keep. One member put that yearly pickup bill at about 54 cents per household. Still, one member said, the town's public works department would have to sign on even if the committee paid. And by another member's count, bins ordered now would have only a couple of months of results by the time the next town budget is largely written.
"I don't want to start a pilot program and find out that we can't go beyond that," one member said. The same member added: "I personally think it's great."
The committee agreed its chair would take the numbers to Town Manager Kathleen Blonski before the next meeting. Members said a decision could come then.
The price
The quote was a follow-up to August, when a representative of USA Waste, a waste hauler, told the committee that a food-scrap program would not save the town money. Committee member Kimberly Haidinger agreed then to price the enclosed bins members had discussed.
She brought back a quote from metroSTOR, which makes "smart" collection bins with a fill sensor and a phone app for residents. Each bin, a steel frame around a 65-gallon cart the town would supply, costs $4,066. Haidinger's total for two bins, a year of maintenance and the app was $12,484.
Emptying them would be a separate bill. Blue Earth Compost, a Hartford-based food-scrap collection company, quoted a price that comes to $3,744 a year for weekly pickup at both bins. USA Waste gave a lower ballpark, $25 per bin each time it empties one. The 54-cent figure came from a member who rounded a year of pickups to about $3,800.
Haidinger also brought better news on timing. Members had been told the bins took about six months to arrive. "That is not accurate," she said. MetroSTOR told her 8 to 10 weeks, 12 at most.
The case for spending, and the case for waiting
The Green Efforts Committee has no line in the town budget. Its account is fed by the town's share of textile recycling, which members described as "pennies" at a time. "It's built up over time," one member said. Spending has been modest: about $500 a year for Cleanup Day supplies, $4,500 this spring for a compost-sorting table at a school, and roughly $4,000 once to mail a newsletter to every household in town.
Members who wanted to go ahead asked what else the money was for. "How long have we had $30,000 in there and what else are we spending the money on?" one asked. "If we wait for the town, this is not going to happen for a year," another said. "Or we could spend money that's been sitting in the account for five years."
Members who wanted to wait pointed to the part of the bill that does not end. Pickups and the app subscription recur every year, and a committee without a budget line cannot carry them for long. "Ultimately it's not going to save the town money," one said. "It's an added line item on the bill."
The calendar
The calendar makes it harder. Blonski begins meeting with department heads on the next budget in January, members said. The capital budget goes to the Town Council in February and the operating budget in March.
Bins ordered now would arrive late this year. One member first figured that would leave six months of results for the budget. Another corrected it: about two, because the budget is largely set by early March.
The committee asked Assistant Town Planner Garrett Daigle, its staff liaison, to report exactly how much is in its account and where the money comes from. Members did not have a current figure.
Where a bin would go
Farmington has no transfer station, the place in many towns where residents already bring their trash and could drop off food scraps on the same trip. Here, composting would mean a separate stop.
Members suggested putting one of the two bins at the library, where people had already said what it would take. Whether the town will pay is the question the chair is taking to Town Hall.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. Some things are worth keeping for years. Banana peels are not among them. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington's volunteer committees long enough to know the smallest budget in town is usually the one with the longest debate. He is on his second coffee. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the town nobody else is covering: the committee that has $30,000 and a question, the vendor quote read aloud line by line, the budget calendar that decides whether a good idea waits a year. We publish slowly and without apology. Our motto is "Always last to breaking news," and we mean it. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. #WeAreFarmington 📰