Scarsdale Leads the Way in Food Scrap Recycling
- Monday, 15 May 2017 12:06
- Last Updated: Monday, 15 May 2017 12:54
- Published: Monday, 15 May 2017 12:06
- Hits: 5000
From left to right: Ron Schulhof, Jane Veron, Michelle Sterling, Jon Mark, Deb Pekarek, Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett, Mayor Dan Hochvert, Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities Commissioner Thomas J. Lauro.
Trustee Deb Pekarek used the occasion to urge Deputy County Executive Plunkett to consider having the County re-start its food scraps recycling program. The County's program, which included the operation of County-owned food recycling machinery, has been suspended due in part to the lack of volume of collected food scraps. As residents' voluntary participation in food scraps recycling increases, it may eventually be possible to prompt the County to re-activate its program. Having a food scraps re-cycling facility in the County would increase the efficiency of the program by reducing the distance the contractor that picks up the food scraps from the Recycling Center has to travel to get to a composting facility.Scarsdale's lead in food scrap recycling has been generating interest in other Westchester communities and a number of them have sent representatives to the Village Secor Road Recycling Center to observe the Village's program. In at least one case, the positive impact of such a visit has resulted in a prompt response. A week ago, Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner and members of his staff visited the Secor Road Recycling Center and observed the Scarsdale food scraps program in operation. Yesterday Supervisor Feiner announced that the Town of Greenburgh "will be working with the Greenburgh Nature Center trying to come up with a plan to implement a similar program."
Village residents dropped off over four tons of food scraps at the Recycling Center last week. In the previous week, residents were able to pick up compost generated by the program for free. For information about the Village's program and future compost pick up days, go to this page on the Village web site.