At our house, we have been committed back yard composters for many years, with a nifty double-chamber composting tumbler going behind the shed. In one chamber, I put my Spring/Summer kitchen scraps. In the other chamber, in go my Fall/ Winter scraps. Right now, while my Fall/Winter scraps are piling up, the Spring/Summer scraps are breaking down. Come next Spring, I’ll take out all that beautiful black gold from the Spring/Summer side of the tumbler and use it in my garden.
And all those scraps that I don’t put down my garbage disposal are scraps that aren’t flowing all the way to Boston. Wellesley is part of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)Wastewater System. The town’s wastewater is discharged into the MWRA’s collection sewers, which flow to the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Facility, located on one of the Boston Harbor islands. From there, the wastewater is treated, and recycled solids are delivered to a sludge treatment facility in Quincy on the Fore River where it is heat treated into fertilizer.
That’s quite a road trip for carrot and potato peelings when really they don’t need to stray far from home at all.
