The City recently expanded its compost drop-off program—and the Roslindale Village Main Street (RVMS) Farmer’s Market was one of five locations chosen to host it.
Instead of tossing food scraps into the trash, residents can drop them off at the market at Adams Park, where a company will pick them up for composting.
The RVMS Farmer’s Market is open between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m every Saturday. The following items may be dropped off for composting: fruit and vegetable scraps; coffee grinds, pasta, rice and cereal; egg shells; bread and pastries; flowers; and compostable bags and plastics. For more information, visit greenovateboston.org.
The expansion of the compost program actually comes in two different parts: Project Oscar, which consists of two keypad-locked compost containers in East Boston and in the North End, and compost pick-up at three different farmer’s markets. Besides Roslindale, the program is also hosted the farmer’s markets in Roxbury’s Dudley Square and Dorchester’s Ashmont-Peabody.
The collection at the farmer’s markets began last month and will run until the end of the market season.
“We’ve had a great deal of success so far in terms of participation, particularly with Project Oscar,” said Leah Bamberger of the City’s Greenovate Boston. “People are very excited about it. In terms of the farmer’s market drop-off, it has been a bit slower, but Roslindale, which is one of the larger markets, is generating the highest participation rates.”
City Soil, a Boston-based company, collects the food scraps at the farmer’s market, while the City’s Public Works Department hauls away the material. The food scraps are then sent to the Rocky Hill Farm in Saugus, where they are turned into compost.
“We are conducting these pilots with a goal of eventually having a more comprehensive and permanent food waste diversion program,” Bamberger.
The RVMS Farmer’s Market recently returned to Adams Park from the MBTA parking lot at the Roslindale commuter line station, where it had moved to while the park underwent renovations.