By E. Ashley Rooney with Photos by D. Peter Lund
The new culvert paid for by the Lexington Composting Facility. The spoils or the material dredged from the former culvert is now being transformed at the facility. Courtesy of D. Peter Lund
Once upon a time, the Town of Lexington had a dump on Lincoln Street. Today, it has a recycling facility, which transforms waste into valuable products that are sold throughout the region. As a result, the Lexington Composting Facility not only makes a profit, it diverts materials from the waste stream. Robert Beaudoin, Superintendent of Environmental Services, projects that for this fiscal year the facility may exceed $500,000 in total revenues.
Businesses, contractors, and other towns come to purchase compost and other products at the 60 Hartwell Road facility. Our yard waste now resides as beautiful loam in Lincoln, Cambridge, in the reconstructed Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and even Foxboro Stadium! Lexington residents and contractors dump leaves, grass and soil at the facility, which then transforms the material into high-demand products. The contractors pay; we can use it for free.
Although nonresidents pay to purchase the compost, topsoil, and super loam in bulk and pay to dump yard waste, Lexington residents can take for free the wood chips deposited from the tree service companies or the compost that is screened at 2.5 inches (in other words there are small lumps and bumps in it). During the holiday season, you will see residents looking through the brush pile for holly branches and pine boughs. A local Lexington sculptor finds wood to carve there. The Lexington Field and Garden Club uses loam from the facility to pot plants for its annual sale.
Robert Beaudoin, Superintendent of Environmental Services, points out that Lexington is not only managing its resources, it is taking waste products in, transforming, and selling them. Lexington Public Works Director, William (Bill) Hadley, was recently named to the National Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year list. He said, “Over the past five years, Robert and Kerry Weaver, crew chief at the facility, have dramatically improved the overall management of materials at the site and have enhanced the services. Because of these enhancements, revenues have increased allowing us to replace a failed culvert, purchase a Cat Loader, and hire a new employee. This was all done with no money from the tax levy.”
The town has developed a major profit-making facility, and those involved in operating it are still seeking new uses.
INCREASING USE OF ORGANICS
Crew captain Kerry Weaver is turning over the leaves and grass left by Lexington residents with a front-end loader. Courtesy of D. Peter Lund.
Within the Commonwealth, more than one million tons of food waste and other organic material are disposed of every year by food processors, large institutions, and residences. Approximately 100,000 tons of organics are recycled or composted each year, but the state has set a goal of diverting an additional 350,000 tons per year by 2020. This material, which comprises about 25 percent of the state’s solid waste, consumes valuable space in our landfills and creates greenhouse gases. A cutting-edge green technology is anaerobic digestion (AD), which can convert organic materials into clean renewable energy and valuable fertilizer.
Currently, there are six AD facilities now in use in Massachusetts and a few AD units used by commercial food processors. The Hartwell facility is considering the possibility of an anaerobic digester. The selectmen will hold public hearings on the subject later this summer.
USING THE SITE CREATIVELY
Massachusetts’ households generate a great deal of toxic waste every year in the form of common cleaners, paint products, automotive materials, mercury-containing devices such as fluorescent lights and thermostats, and numerous other items. Much of this waste could end up in landfills or contaminate surface water. To address this problem, the facility holds eight household hazardous waste collections – many more than other towns. More than 40,000 cars have passed through since 1998.
The waste is processed and screened extensively. This pile of compost tailings filled with rocks, tree branches, plastic bags and old tennis balls is what remains. Courtesy of D. Peter Lund.
Bill proudly showed off the Homeland Security cache contained in the facility as part of Northeast Homeland Security Planning Region (NERAC), overall strategy to effectively provide emergency resources for the entire Northeast Region. The cache contains equipment that municipalities cannot usually afford to buy on their own, such as multiple large lighting towers, variable electronic message boards, or large numbers of cots, sandbags, or barricades. Because Lexington stores the equipment, it can use it for free when needed. The town of Lexington has used some of this equipment during hurricanes and other emergencies.
The facility also contains the shooting range for the police and an area to contain any impounded cars.
WORKING WITHIN THE TOWN
The facility also partners with other DPW departments, saving money for the town. For instance, it grinds up stones and makes material that can be used by the highway department. It is currently storing a large hill of soil from the Estabrook project. It redid the culvert on its access road leading to the wetlands with its own money rather than increasing our tax burden. When streets or sidewalks are repaired or redone, all the spoils are reprocessed and reused.
Kerry Weaver and his staff work hard to maintain the cleanliness of the 28-acre site. Kerry, who has been with the facility for 17 years, is the one who tracks down the contractor who tosses his cigarette pack out the window or the resident who dumps his garbage in the grass pile.
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