Town-wide Food Waste Pickup

2022-23 campaign for food waste collection 

Lexington's current waste hauling contract is expiring in June 2023 and new contracts are expected to drastically increase the cost of hauling our trash.

Now we have the opportunity to align our practice with the town's goals of reaching zero emissions by 2035 (Article 4, STM 2020) and the zero waste goals outlined in the Zero Waste Resolution (Article 27, ATM 2022) to develop a Zero Waste Plan, including a plan for town-wide compost service. 

It's time to act now and show our Town leadership that we support town-wide food waste collection. Please add your name to the list of supporters.

Food waste composting is a critical and practical solution for our climate crisis and trash crisis:

1. Food scraps make up 25-40% of household trash: Every year ~2,600 tons of Lexington's 8,500 tons of trash is food waste. Separating it out significantly reduces trash. 

2. Burning food is bad: Everything we put in the trash is taken to the incinerator in North Andover and burned. Wet food waste takes the most energy to burn, and it adds significantly to Greenhouse Gas emissions.

3. Compost so life goes on: Applying compost returns valuable nutrients to the soil that grows our food and gardens. It also increases carbon sequestration by vegetation and reduces flooding.

4. Invest in town-wide food waste collection now for future savings: Phasing-in the curbside collection of food waste might eventually cost the town up to $1M, that's less than 25% of our current curbside waste and recycling collection and disposal costs (>$4M) and less than 0.4% of the town's annual operating budget (>$250M). However, additional costs can be offset, or become potential savings over time (in year two and beyond) with one or more of the following potential measure(s) and factors:

   • Set up food waste compost facilities at Hartwell Ave and compost locally

   • Avoid imminent cost hikes of trash disposal cost: to transport and burn trash, then transport and landfill the toxic bottom ash will get more expensive. The landfills in MA are at or near capacity and will be closing by 2028. With gas prices rising, exporting our waste incineration ashes out of state will be very costly. 

   • Implement trash metering/fees for excessive inorganic waste

   • Inorganic trash collection at an every-other-week interval (many residents who compost can attest the significant reduction in trash by simply taking food waste out;  ~60% of the Town's trash/recycling cost is collection.)

5. It's been done in many places and for decades: Curbside pickup of food waste has been provided by many municipalities in MA, the US, and around the world, and the list is growing (See resources below). 

6. Lexington is ready:

   • About 20% of the over 11,000 households are already composting their kitchen waste, either in their backyard, or by hiring curbside pickup service, or utilizing the free LexSORT compost drop off locations (a program initiated by Lexington Zero Waste Collaborative in partnership with the Town DPW). (We expect residents will continue to have the option to compost backyard, drop off at LexSORT sites, pay their current service provider as alternatives of not participating the future 

   • Over 7,000 LPS students have been composting food waste at school every day for the past six years. These students come from thousands of families, or about 40% of the households in town. 

   • Town Meeting passed near unanimously the resolution of reaching zero emissions by 2035 and the Zero Waste Resolution. 

Every month we contemplate and wait, 200 tons of food waste is being burned. Lexington needs to take action NOW.