Belmont Spreads Compost Townwide

Town puts out RFP for preferred vendor program

By Julie Wu

Since its inception in 2018, Belmont Composts!, a project of the nonprofit Belmont Food Collaborative, which also runs the Farmers’ Market, has urged curbside composting to reduce Belmont’s trash, saving both town funds and the environment. Using online and in-person outreach and leveraging collective bargaining power to obtain bulk discount rates, Belmont Composts! has made it possible for more than 600 households to sign up with curbside compost companies.

With approximately 10,000 households in Belmont, there is potential for much more participation. In October 2019, the cities of Newton and Boston announced their partnership with Black Earth Compost, a major vendor for Belmont. Both cities had submitted Requests for Proposal (RFPs) for a preferred vendor program, in which the city promotes the partnership and in return receives a reduced rate for residents, who pay for their subscriptions privately. Within their first week, Newton had 400 residents sign up for curbside composting.

Belmont Composts! immediately began contacting town officials about setting up a similar program in Belmont. Belmont Composts! met with Patrice Garvin, town administrator, and Select Board vice chair Tom Caputo, and a plan was made to submit an RFP. This RFP went out in mid-July, The town has received applications from six vendors as of mid-August, and will be making decisions this fall.

With many Belmont residents telecommuting from home and generating more trash than usual, this RFP represents an opportunity to save the town significant money on trash fees.

With many Belmont residents telecommuting from home and generating more trash than usual, this RFP represents an opportunity to save the town significant money on trash fees. An individual composting subscription will likely be less costly than buying an overflow trash bag once a week and will also be more beneficial to the environment.

Subscriptions would be entirely voluntary, and residents would be able to retain or choose curbside composting subscriptions with other companies if they wish.

Julie Wu is the founder of Belmont Composts!, volunteer coordination lead for Belmont Helps, and a Town Meeting member.