The Dirt on Composting

The LWV Cooperstown’s Natural Resources Committee is starting off its year with some “dirty work.” On Monday March 30 at 1 pm the League in conjunction with Connections at the Clark Sports Center will present “The Dirt on Composting.” The program will include a presentation by Worms Waste Not, a compost pickup service founded in 2024 Rachel Frick Cardelle.

In January 2022, New York Passed the Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling law, which required that businesses and institutions that generate an annual average of two tons of wasted food per week or more must donate excess edible food and recycle all remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organics recycler (composting facility, anaerobic digester, etc.). In January 2027, the law will expand, lowering that annual average to one ton; by 2029 that average to .5 tons.

Households, of course, don’t generate anywhere near that much organic materials. And many people who live in apartments or have close-by neighbors (both humans and bears!) can’t maintain compost facilities in their yards. But people are interested in reducing waste. That’s where Worms Waste Not comes in. Since 2024, Rachelle and her business partner Meghan Cassidy have diverted more than 30,000 pounds of food waste from local landfills through their company, Worms Waste Not in Oneonta.

The presentation will focus on different ways to reduce their food waste—from carefully planning meals and buying groceries, to storing food to make it last longer so it's not going to waste, to diverting food scraps so they do not end up in the landfill. Participants will also learn about the different composting options that are available to them.

Learn more about Worms Waste Not on its website, The program is open to the public; there is no charge to attend.

For Further informaiton contact Natural Resources Chair tenicobal [at] gmail.com (Tracy Roberts)