Did you know that almost a third of what we throw away is leftover or spoiled food? If Maine is to achieve a 50% recycling rate, we need to recover our food waste, too – it’s worth the weight!
ecomaine added food waste recycling to our sustainable waste management solutions in order to help Maine reach its recycling goal. We continue to build food waste recycling capacity in southern Maine, serving as a central collection point for grocery stores, institutions, and participating cities and towns.
Collected food waste is transported to Exeter, Maine’s Agri-Energy to be de-packaged and anaerobically digested to produce sustainable power, organic farm fertilizer, and cow bedding for the Maine family dairy farm Stonyvale Farm. Any packaging removed from the food waste is delivered back to ecomaine to be burned for energy—keeping all of it out of our landfills!
By making composting, anaerobic digestion, and food waste recycling so easy, we encourage our communities to dispose of their waste responsibly.
For more on compost that’s “Worth The Weight,” check out our informational pamphlet!
Backyard Composting
Backyard composting is one of the easiest ways to keep organic material out of the trash. It also has some other great advantages:
- It doesn’t weigh your trash down as much.
- It doesn’t get into ecomaine‘s waste-to-energy plant, making our combustion more damp and less efficient.
- It’s easy – and “grass-cycling” (leaving clippings on the lawn) is better for your grass!
- It saves Maine’s towns money on collection and hauling.
- And it saves YOU money on trash bags!
- There are no trucks or driving involved – no carbon emissions! You just walk it out to your bin, and that’s it.
- In the end, composting produces rich soil for flower and vegetable gardens – without paying for it (again) at the store.
Drop Off Locations
If you’re looking for a compost drop-off location, instead of putting it in your backyard, here are a few… If you know of one that’s not here, let us know! (Some facilities may be for residents only; we advise calling ahead if you’re not sure.)
Curbside Collection
And if you’re really not into the backyard thing, there are some companies who will pick it up for you!
- We Compost It! (Greater Portland)
- Garbage to Garden (Greater Portland)
- Scrap Dogs (Greater Camden-Rockport)
- Mr. Fox Composting (Southern Maine & NH)
- Project Earth (Lincoln County)
- Chickadee Compost (All of Blue Hill Peninsula, Deer Isle, Ellsworth)
- 1 Earth Composting (Hampden)
- Agri-Cycle Energy (Collection from businesses & organizations for anaerobic digestion – all over!)
Other Compost Resources
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
207-592-0455
University of Maine Cooperative Extension
207-581-3188
Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine – Food Recovery
207-581-3195
Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association
207-568-4142
WormMainea
207-831-3752
Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm
1-800-373-0555