Worcester Offers Free Compost for Your Gardens
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
While some might think that the leaves and green waste from around the city would be contaminated with oil and antifreeze, Assistant to the Commissioner of DPW, Bob Fiore, has no doubts that the compost they grind each day is as good as (and cheaper than) anything you could get from a home improvement warehouse.
Clean Compost
“People have the attitude that if it’s coming from a city, it must be dirty,” Fiore said. “They go out and pay huge amounts of money, which when you compare it, is expensive stuff. People don’t realize.”
“We test it every so often to make sure it’s clean. It’s great stuff. People used to be concerned that leaves were picking up chemicals, but there’s none of that in there,” he said. “When I was growing up, the cars would drip in the gutter, and there was a huge concern that the leaves were contaminated. That doesn’t happen anymore. Cars are made better. I haven’t seen that in a long time.”
“The Beast” Needed to Chop It Up
Fiore and the Worcester DPW churn out 70,000 cubic yards of compost each year, coming straight from the yards, streets, and trees of the city between April and November.
“It’s a daily process. We have a shredder called The Beast,” Fiore said with a laugh. “That’s actually what it’s called.”
Although streets are less tree-lined, and amounts of leaves are less than they used to be, the DPW faces this hefty task each year at their 16-acre site where it’s all turned into garden-worthy compost.
“A lot of it comes from the fall leaf collection program. It all comes in internally from city sources either from residents or from what we collect from the DWP,” he said.
While the snowstorm in late October left unusually large amounts of green debris and leaves to be cleaned up, Siore said that this year’s numbers are on point.
Back to the Community
The DPW has an abundance of eager residents each year ready to put these piles of compost to good use. With the help of this year’s early spring weather, Fiore expects another stampede.
“Everyone’s itching to do stuff now. In a month there will be a line of cars backed up,” he said. “Usually residents can come and shovel as much as they want. They come with trunks and buckets and trailers.”
Fiore said that the DPW weighed its options in how to use the compost, and giving it away to residents was a “no brainer.”
“It would be great to sell it, but a lot of these big companies don’t want to pay you a lot for it. Our attitude was to give it to the residents. The money we make off of it doesn’t cover any cost anyway, and there’s plenty to go around,” Siore said. “We use it in parks across the city, and the division uses it as a supplement.”
With the help of the DPW’s compost program, the Regional Environmental Council (REC) is able to fertilize its many community gardens throughout the city.
“We’re huge supporters of the compost program. They’ve been a big help to us,” said Casey Burns, the REC’s Food Justice Program Director. “We support 52 community gardens including ones at local schools. We use their compost service at each of these locations. The DPW delivers it for free to those gardens. It also keeps them from becoming too expensive.”
Burns has committed seven years to YouthGROW, a project that supports two youth-run urban gardens and employs fifty low-income teenagers a year.
“Because that cost is minimized, we’re allowed to have a more widespread network of community gardens,” Burns said. “It’s an easier resource to access. It’s a huge asset to our program.”
The REC’s program that the DPW supports also provides neighborhoods with community safe spaces and food.
“It makes sense for efficiency of resources, for them to have an open eye. It’s what any city should be doing,” she said.
You can load your truck up with some compost from 8:30am-3:00pm during the week.
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