The Board of Selectmen at its June 5 meeting approved the acceptance of two grants from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for static pile composting as part of an overall effort to reduce waste in Connecticut.

The ASP grant for the Newtown Transfer Station Aerated Static Pile Composting Facility provides $41,000 of the estimated $82,000 in project costs, for which the town contribution is all existing material and equipment. The town will have to budget any money for the project as it has everything it needs already on hand, according to Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

The UBP grant for the Newtown Transfer Station Food Scrap Collection and Unit-Based Pricing Pilot Program provides a not-to-exceed amount of $202,960 to provide program materials, including a year’s worth of garbage disposal bags and food scrap collection kits for all 4,000 households currently utilizing the transfer station, as well as program promotion and technical assistance.

Each household will be given two orange garbage bags per week, or 104 bags total for a year’s coverage. Any household that needs additional bags will pay $1 per bag. Those participating in the program would separate food waste from their other garbage by placing them in the orange bags instead of in their normal garbage, much like recycling is currently also separated. The food scrap waste would be brought to a separate area at the Transfer Station to be composted.

Hurley said the town will use surplus solar panels to energize standard batteries, powering blower fans. The blower fans would drive air through a series of plastic pipes with holes to “aerate” the food scraps and leaves piled in rows on top of the pipes. Periodically, staff will turn the piles, “and after a few weeks, you have garden-grade compost.”

“All of this activity will be done on-site with no additional transportation or tip fees for the leaves or food waste being processed,” said Hurley.

The town could potentially save money on the composting, as it pays $95 per ton for waste and the food would be removed from that stream, potentially lowering the tonnage paid on per year by an estimated 500 or 600 tons. Hurley said the town pays approximately $16,000 annually to transport leaves and food waste.

“This program potentially eliminates most if not all of that operating budget expense,” said Hurley.

The program is voluntary for Newtown Transfer Station permit holders and will be tried out over the next year.

Hurley said that the program was part of a conversation between DEEP and Connecticut municipalities on how to reduce waste state-wide. DEEP came to the towns asking for ideas and offering funding to the towns for trying different initiatives. The initiatives that are most successful will be shared by DEEP with other towns.

“It’s nice for once that DEEP is asking us for input instead of telling us how to do things,” said Hurley.

Connecticut is currently shipping 800,000 tons of waste per year out of state to Ohio and Pennsylvania, which is very costly. Finding ways to reduce that has been deemed by DEEP as very important, according to Hurley.

“Aside from the moral component of taking care of our own waste, it’s possible that Pennsylvania and Ohio may eventually start refusing our waste,” said Hurley.

The town has six months to get the program implemented, including building the composters, outreach efforts, educational efforts, and oversight.

“What we’re trying to do is get people to change their habits,” said Hurley. “We want them to put the food in the food scraps bag and not the garbage. We’re easing into it with a voluntary program.”

Hurley said one carrot for transfer station users to participate would be that if enough households participate and help reduce the costs of transporting leaves and food waste, the town could “potentially reduce the sticker or permit fees without throwing the operating revenues and expenses into imbalance.”

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.