Push to divert food waste from landfills remains strong in Franklin County, experts say

Reflecting on a state study that reports significant drops in food waste since the implementation of a commercial food waste ban in 2014, local experts say Franklin County residents were ahead of the composting curb and the added option of anaerobic digestion has allowed large food companies in the Pioneer Valley to divert their food waste.

In June, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection released the results of a study analyzing the statewide effects of its ban on commercial food waste. Although the ban first prohibited businesses and institutions from disposing of no more than 1 ton of food per week, this cap was reduced to a half-ton per week in the 2022 amendment.

According to the study, food waste diversion statewide rose from 100,000 tons prior to the ban to 380,000 tons in 2023, with the number of businesses separating their food waste rising from 1,350 in 2014 to 3,120 in 2023. This increase in composting led to a 17% decrease in Massachusetts food waste entering landfills since the ban was implemented.

However, according to Amy Donovan, program director at the Greenfield-based Franklin County Solid Waste Management District, this ban on commercial food waste did not pack a strong punch in Franklin County.

“Most entities in Franklin County are too small to meet the threshold of a half a ton a week of food waste,” Donovan explained, adding that the large food companies that do meet the threshold were already composting prior to the ban.

Although Donovan said she has not noticed the state ban on commercial food waste increase composting rates at Franklin County transfer stations, the district continues to encourage composting in the region. Of the 19 transfer stations in Franklin County, 15 offer a compost program, plus a unique program in Gill, and Donovan plans to encourage more towns to start a compost program.

Gill became the latest town to join the group of composting transfer stations in Franklin County last September. According to Jan Ameen, the district’s executive director, 12% of Gill’s population has signed up to compost, more than anticipated.

“Ten percent of anything in this field is crazy,” Ameen said. “The fact that people are still hearing about it or signing up is really amazing.”

Whately marked the first town to compost, with compost bins at its transfer station cropping up in 2003, according to Donovan, who works with municipalities to establish composting at transfer stations.

The district estimates about 735 total tons of food waste is collected at the transfer stations each year, Ameen said.

According to Ameen and Donovan, Franklin County was ahead of the composting curb thanks to Martin’s Farm in Greenfield. The family business composts the food waste from the majority of the compost bins at the transfer stations. Donovan said Bob Martin, the father of current owner, Adam Martin, kickstarted composting in the county with a composting program at Pioneer Valley Regional School, around 1999.

“They’re a resource for us, whereas, other parts of the state don’t have a local composting station, and we have for a very, very long time,” Ameen said.

Adam Martin, who runs Martin’s Farm with his family and Justin Miller’s family, described his father as a “state pioneer” in composting.

While the number of towns composting at their transfer stations continues to grow, Donovan noted composting in schools has dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic. Without children in person at the schools to fill compost bins during the height of the pandemic, many schools halted their compost programs and have not yet circled back.

Before the pandemic, 33 Franklin County schools diverted food waste from the trash via compost haulers or pig farmers, according to Donovan. Now, she said, while factoring in that two schools have since closed, 21 schools divert food waste from the trash. Donovan said she is working to restart the others.

Anaerobic digestion gets a boost

According to Adam Martin, the amount of food waste Martin’s Farm composts, about 30 tons per day, has decreased since the pandemic due to the rise of anaerobic digestion.

Anaerobic digestion refers to the process of microorganisms like bacteria breaking down biodegradable material, including manure, in a space sealed off from oxygen. The microorganisms then release biogas, fuel for renewable energy. According to Ameen, the state has encouraged large food companies to send their food waste to anaerobic digesters following the commercial food waste ban.

In 2016, Peter Melnik and his team installed an anaerobic digester at his family’s dairy farm, Bar-Way Farm in Deerfield, partly as a response to the commercial food waste ban. With the help of Wellesley renewable energy company Vanguard, a $400,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and a $335,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the farm installed a roughly 100-foot-by-50-foot digester tank.

Melnik said the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center helped connect the Deerfield farm with large food companies looking to divert their food waste. Between 50 and 60 companies now send their food waste to Bar-Way Farm, like the Coca-Cola distributor in Northampton, Whole Foods Market in Hadley, Tree House Brewing Co. in South Deerfield and New England Natural Bakers in Greenfield. Melnik said the farm collects about 100 tons of food waste per day from these companies, a number that has continued to climb since its installment of the anaerobic digester in 2016.

Melnik and his team feed their cows the food waste before microbes and bugs in the 105-degree anaerobic digester break the manure down and produce methane. He added that manure produced by cows that consume food waste contains five times as much energy as typical manure.

Next, the digester traps the methane and converts it into electrical energy for Deerfield’s electric grid. According to Melnik, the digester creates enough electricity to power 800 homes.

According to the Massachusetts Department for Environmental Protection, Bar-Way Farm runs the only anaerobic digester in Franklin County as of May.

Melnik said the digester not only promotes sustainability, but also boosts its economic viability by “trying to get as much value out of the animal as we can.”

“The cows are the core,” Melnik said.

Ameen said anaerobic digesters help large industrial food companies divert food waste, not rural communities with small companies.

“They don’t serve the more local needs,” Ameen said, adding that Martin’s Farm also composts cardboard, a biodegradable material that many digesters refuse.

Ameen and Donovan plan to continue helping Franklin County towns compost at transfer stations.

“People in rural communities,” Donovan said, “they understand the compost cycle and they understand the value of those materials.”