Scituate sustainability committee touts school composting and food-share program

Greg Theada, secretary of the Scituate Sustainability Committee, told the Town Council the committee’s yearlong work has focused on school-based waste reduction and education under a program called Get Food Smart. The program trains student volunteers as cafeteria “arrangers,” installs sorting stations (share table, liquid, recycling and compost) and partners with the Rhode Island School Recycling Project for equipment and an initial year of compost pickup.

Theada said two elementary schools reduced landfill trash by about 95% in the program’s pilot and that three elementary schools together reduced landfill tonnage by roughly 10 tons last year. He credited custodial staff and school leaders for operational fixes — replacing noncomposted disposable trays with washable metal trays, stopping recycling from being placed in plastic bags, and improving sorting — that made recycling and composting effective.

The committee described partnerships with local haulers and businesses: a local farmer (named during the presentation) collects compost for farm use, and a commercial hauler makes weekly pickups for about $18–$20 a week (about $1,000 a year at one site). The Rhode Island School Recycling Project provided refrigerators and supplies and will fund an initial year of compost pick-up; after that the committee expects to seek $1,000 a year per site or town funding to continue service.

Theada said the committee operates with roughly six volunteers and about $10,000 in an available fund, and has raised an additional $8,000 over 18 months through grants and private donations. He urged the council to examine municipal hauler contracts — which he said may lack explicit cost-sharing or incentive clauses tying landfill reductions to lower hauling costs — before the town’s contract renewal in 2027, and offered to stay engaged on contract language and program expansion. Council members thanked the committee and asked Theada to remain involved in negotiations.

The committee asked the council to consider funding ongoing compost pickups once initial grant support ends and to help identify contract-language changes that would let the town realize savings from reduced landfill disposal. The council did not take immediate fiscal action at the meeting; Theada said he will follow up with staff and the DPW.