Will Taunton soon have free yard and food waste drop-off? What we know

TAUNTON — Could food and yard waste composting be a solution to reducing Taunton’s waste stream? The city wants to find out with a new request for proposals.

In mid-April the city will be releasing an RFP looking for a company to start a composting program. The company that is chosen will also be taking over the city’s Convenience Center for trash drop-off, located at the former East Britannia Street landfill.

“The City is interested in the development of ideas and concepts for a composting and yard waste collection site that will advance the City’s objective to maximize the use of City property and create a local and regional benefit,” says the draft RFP, obtained by the Gazette from the city’s Procurement Department.

Who's paying the bill?

The company operating the convenience center under a 20-30 year lease with the city will be responsible for staffing the site and will have carte blanche to expand or relocate the facility as it deems fit.

The city does not intend to provide funding for the operation.

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Free yard waste and food compost drop-off?

In addition to the convenience center’s accepting items not accepted through regular curbside trash and recycling pickup, the center’s services, under the scope of the RFP, will hopefully include free drop-off for Taunton residents of yard waste, tree limbs, and food compost.

What about pick-up of food waste?

In addition, the RFP is looking for the company to operate its own free pickup service of food waste for all of Taunton Public Schools, a discounted rate for pickup of food waste for residents and businesses, provide additional drop-off sites all around the city, and allow residents to receive back a free amount of post-composted material for personal use, like for gardening purposes.

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When will collection site be up and running?

The city is hoping, assuming a successful RFP, that a contractor will be chosen and a design and construction schedule for the new convenience center and operation will be set by this summer, with completion of construction and the beginning of operations commencing by early next year.

After a vendor is chosen, the lease would still need to go before the City Council's Committee on Public Property, which would make a recommendation to the full Council — which would need to approve the lease before any contract can be signed.

Why a yard and food waste center?

Since the closure of the landfill in 2020, and its completed capping in 2021, the city has been trying to find new solutions to managing its waste.

City Councilor Phillip Duarte, who chairs the Committee on Solid Waste, said at a March 26 meeting the impetus for this proposal was to find a trash reduction solution for all the food waste produced by Taunton schools, as well as to find a free and permanent solution to handling residents’ yard waste and brush trimmings, which used to be taken for free by the landfill.

What are current yard waste options?

Duarte brought up since the landfill’s closing there have been temporary and current solutions for yard waste, such as a former drop-off program at West Water Street, that was at cost, and, since summer 2023, the convenience center on East Britannia Street taking yard waste, also for a cost.

There is also curbside collection done for yard waste, for free, but only three times a year: once in the spring and twice in the fall. The next free collection date is April 22.

Duarte said he, other officials, and the Procurement Department realized it would be better to use the city’s convenience center as “one cohesive site” for all services, rather than incurring the costs of transporting food waste outside city lines.

Catherine Nunes, director of capital projects for the DPW, said this RFP is about “being environmentally friendly” and “alleviating costs,” especially with the schools, as the state continues to enact stricter food waste bans across the Commonwealth, affecting both municipalities and businesses.

Duarte added he hopes the rate of food waste pickup from the chosen vendor will be cheaper than the present Pay-as-you-throw program, costing $2 a bag, for Taunton’s curbside pickup.

“By not putting food in the trash, people are using less $2 bags,” Duarte said.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Will free food, yard waste composting solve Taunton landfill problem?