In an effort to be green, and frugal, we regularly hit up the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility for its free screened compost. Mrs. Swellesley was aghast last week when she saw the compost had run dry. What’s more, mountains of debris were seen in the yard waste area, fueling speculation this had become a federal case.

We asked the RDF’s Gordon Martin, what was up.

He says Wellesley has been screening compost this year since March and has now sold out its inventory of screened compost, 2,300 tons of which commercial buyers have snapped up in 2010 (the RDF also makes compost available to residents for free).

“Unfortunately, in early September, the RDF had to suspend screening operations because the compost in the yard wasn’t quite ready to be screened. The material is not decomposed enough,” Martin says. “We have recently turned all the windrows [long tall rows of the unscreened compost] and the plan is to start screening in a few weeks.”

Martin expects to see pent-up demand for that compost in November by residents and commercial buyers.

Depending on the weather, the RDF also plans to screen some 2,500 tons of compost over the winter in an effort to boost its sales and make sure compost is available to residents.