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Potsdam trustees hear community composting plan

Posted 2/22/18

By CRAIG FREILICH POTSDAM -- A plan for beginning a community composting station in the village was presented to the Board of Trustees Tuesday. Four Clarkson seniors led by Brooke Zeller have been …

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Potsdam trustees hear community composting plan

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- A plan for beginning a community composting station in the village was presented to the Board of Trustees Tuesday.

Four Clarkson seniors led by Brooke Zeller have been working on the project and outlined their proposal to the village board in an updated version of their December presentation to the Town Council.

The students said the community composting would save the village and town money on costs they now lay out for disposal of some waste by other means, such as trucking to a landfill.

The composting setup they are proposing, with anaerobic digesters, would be cheap to run, they said.

And the community would be left with “a valuable product” that could be used by the municipalities as fertilizer or sold to other to use.

There is a 37-acre site off of State Rt. 11B already being used by the village for disposal of yard waste, and that site could be converted fairly easily to add food waste, the presenters said.

They would roll out the plan in phases, for instance adding food waste from Clarkson University and SUNY Potsdam, eventually adding more from Canton-Potsdam Hospital, public schools and commercial sources.

They will have to comply with state and federal regulations defining how close it could be to wetlands and housing, and to prevent leeching into water wells. Safety for citizens is also required.

The students emphasized that Rt. 11B site is already in use for yard waste picked up by village crews. And there are other positive aspects of the plan that work in its favor.

The plan fits neatly into the village and town commitment under the state Climate Smart Communities initiative.

It would be a place for larger producers of waste, particularly food waste, to dispose of the waste as part of an environment-friendly operation.

The students said they visited a compost facility at St. Lawrence University which demonstrated how one might fail if there were not enough food waste included to keep it hot enough for the process to work properly.

Their design, which is due to be completed and presented for a final grade in their class, will include ideas for transport.

Faculty advisor Susan Powers, director of CU’s Institute for a Sustainable Environment, said there is more than enough interest to keep the plan going after the seniors graduate in the spring.