Middlebury, VT – The Addison County Solid Waste Management District (ACSWMD) has been awarded a materials management implementation grant of $80,000 by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), a division of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Grant funds will be used to improve the collection and management of single stream recyclables and food scraps at the District Transfer Station in Middlebury, where both programs have grown in volume in recent years.
The grant is part of $975,000 made available from the Solid Waste Management Assistance Fund provided by the State to help towns and solid waste planning entities implement their solid waste plans, as required by state law.
Of the grant total, ACSWMD received $40,000 for a single stream recycling transfer trailer. The purchase of a new transfer trailer will provide additional capacity for storing single stream recyclables for efficient transfer to out-of-District processing facilities. It will also help the District avoid increasing maintenance costs associated with older equipment and prevent back up of collection at the District Transfer Station.
An additional $40,000 was awarded to the District to assist with the collection and management of food scraps. Since the full implementation of the food scrap ban on July 1, 2020, the volume of food scraps the District manages has grown tremendously. Grant funds will be used to purchase an enclosed roll-off box, toters, a customized toter tipper, a pressure washing system and a stakebody truck and trailer. This equipment will support safe, efficient and sanitary collection of food scraps at the District Transfer Station. Additional funding for the toter tipper is supported by a $5,000 grant from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) Property and Casualty Intermunicipal Fund (PACIF).
The grant funding of $80,000 represents 40% of the total project costs, with the District providing 60% or $120,000 in matching funds. According to Teresa Kuczynski, District Manager, “The District is very appreciative of these state grant funds at a time when the volumes of food scraps and single stream recyclables received at the District Transfer Station have increased dramatically. These purchases will improve the efficiency and safety of both collection systems.”