Knowing that success begins with their soil, many avid gardeners continually seek to improve it. Some of us go so far as to collect our vegetable scraps and lawn clippings (greens) in a backyard compost bin, mix with fall leaves and the occasional shredded newspaper (browns), stir occasionally with a pitchfork, and eventually harvest “black gold.” Finished compost restores nutrients to the soil and improves soil structure and moisture retention.
Increasingly, though, we lack the time and patience to achieve the necessary green-to-brown ratio, to turn the pile, and to successfully rat-proof the bin. Many of us have given over the task to professionals.
Black Earth Compost started picking up Belmont’s compostable waste curbside 10 years ago. According to Jon Laurie, Black Earth’s municipal coordinator for Belmont, the town started with 50 households participating; Belmont now has 1,220 subscribers.
Curbside composting is quite a step up from the backyard effort. We can add much more to the Black Earth bin than just vegetable matter, including meat, bread, and dairy leftovers, cooking grease and paper napkins. Almost anything that would otherwise cause a stink in your kitchen trash is fair game—you can find a full list of acceptable items at Black Earth’s website.
Separating compostable waste from the rest of the trash isn’t a new idea. In the early to mid 20th century, kitchen scraps at many New England homes went into a subterranean “garbage receiver pail,” which was surrounded by thick concrete housing and hidden beneath a heavy cast-iron lid that opened with a foot pedal. Once a week, garbage collectors would go house to house, dumping each pail into their very fragrant truck—in some communities, the garbage would be taken to farms and end up in pig slops.
In being freed from this nuisance, which used to pile up for occasional burning in bonfires, homeowners could explore new uses of their outdoor property, such as installing patios and growing ornamental shrubs and flowers.
Quite a few Belmont homes still have their original underground receptacles, most with lids stamped “F. B. Jones, Somerville, Mass. No. 4.” I was intrigued to learn that F. B. Jones was headquartered just a block from my first apartment out of college, near Davis Square.
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When plastic bags and single-stream trash collection became the norm, some Belmontians removed these relics or obscured them beneath decks, home additions, or garden beds. A few excavated units show up on Facebook Marketplace every now and then, offered as curiosities of a bygone era and promising new use as a novelty planter or a hipster cooler for drinks at your summer barbecue.
Black Earth’s green plastic bins are today’s incarnation of the old garbage pail. The curbside service costs $13.99 per month for weekly pickup or $10.99 per month for every other week, with lower prices as more residents sign up. Subscribers receive an annual coupon for a finished bag of compost and a discount on bulk orders.
Jon Laurie noted that the next drop in price will occur when we reach 2,300 subscribers.
“We know that is a lofty goal, and we are always looking for support from town officials to help promote the program and potentially subsidize some of the cost for residents,” Laurie explained. “Many towns use grant funding or do pilot programs to radically increase participation and divert organics out of the waste stream.”
A volunteer-based group (Belmont Composts!) has been helping to raise awareness of the program at community events like the Farmers’ Market and Saturday soccer games. Composting benefits town finances by keeping heavy materials out of the trash, which Belmont pays “tip fees” by the ton to have incinerated. (Tip fees in Massachusetts are some of the highest in the nation.) And composting helps climate health by keeping carbon in circulation through the biosphere instead of converting it to heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Keeping scraps out of the sink garbage disposal also helps save electricity and water, and it reduces the strain on wastewater treatment plants and improves the quality of marine habitats and waterways.
What goes around comes around. As in the early 20th century, a lot of us are once again in the habit of separating our kitchen scraps from the rest of the trash. And we’re doing it for many of the same reasons our forebears did: to keep useful resources from going to waste, to stifle unpleasant odors, and to free our yards from utilitarian purposes for our greater enjoyment.
Jenny has been gardening in Belmont since 2001 and became a member of the Belmont Garden Club in 2019. From 2010 to 2013, she was the volunteer editor for the Belmont Farmers’ Market newsletter, Roots & Sprouts.
