Newtown Public Works, in collaboration with Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority (HRRA), is offering Newtown residents free composting kits to help offset the current waste crisis Connecticut is experiencing. Connecticut has an 800,000-ton shortfall in waste management right now, meaning 1.6 million pounds of garbage is being sent out to other state’s landfills. To help combat the issue, the Newtown Organics (Food Scraps Recycling) program was implemented in 2015.

Fred Hurley, Public Works director, said, “[We’ve] seen a steady increase of municipal solid waste over quite a few years. The ability to process solid waste [is] actually decreasing, so you’ve got these two lines going in absolutely the wrong directions. You’re getting more waste and you’re getting less processing capability.” This is where HRRA stepped in with their organics recycling efforts for the region. Currently, there are nine municipal organic drop-off programs in Western Connecticut.

To obtain a composting kit, residents need to provide Public Works with their name and email address. The kit includes a kitchen bin, a six-gallon carry container, about four months’ worth of compostable bags, and instructional papers explaining the do’s and don’ts of composting. Only the compostable bags provided in the kits are appropriate for composting; regular plastic bags are not allowed. The BioBags provided are completely plant-based and are made from thistle plants. They’re designed to break down with the rest of the food scraps to create a rich, fertile compost.

Public Works received a grant from the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to build an aerated static pile, or ASP for short. This ASP will be located at the Transfer Station, 4 Ethan Allen Road, and will be solar powered. The ASP is a commercial composting facility that can transform even the toughest food scraps, such as meat and fish, into a soil amendment that residents can use in their gardens at home. Participants of the Food Scraps Recycling program receive free compost in the spring. “It’s a full circle, the chasing arrow of recycling,” Jennifer Heaton-Jones, executive director of HRRA, said.

The need for the ASP is more relevant than ever.

“Typically, people care about what day is trash day, not where is my trash going, and we need to change that … food waste is made up of mostly water, so burning water doesn’t really make a lot of sense,” Heaton-Jones said. “We produce in the state of Connecticut 3.5 million tons of garbage a year … and we only have the capacity for 2.7 [million tons].”

The leftover 1.6 million tons of waste then needs to be transported out of the state, creating a large carbon footprint and cost to residents.

“Just being able to manage everything in town itself instead of having to ship it out to other areas helps reduce carbon emissions,” said Town Engineer John Curtis. “It helps [to] hopefully reduce costs long-term … if we can manage it in town instead of hiring out additional contractors.”

Heaton-Jones explained that the quality of soil around the world is depleting. Compost acts as a medicine to restore soil quality and improve plant life.

“We can’t all move to Mars,” said Hurley.

Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.