FARMINGTON — The circle of life is keeping the planet healthy and putting a little money back into the town with its composting program.

The compost the town is producing at its composting pad on Dump Road, off U.S. Route 2 — formerly the property of Sandy River Recycling — is some high-test growing material that Town Manager Richard Davis and the town have used themselves, Davis said.

The town is selling the compost to the community for $12 for one tractor bucket or $20 for two.

Davis said the town’s first compost sale on Saturday was a success, moving half the pile and generating $857 for the town.

The next compost sale will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

“A lot of it came from the University of Maine Farmington, from their food service. It’s a combination of residual food waste and cow and horse manure — bedding,” Davis said.

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Davis said the manure and bedding were provided by the Farmington Fairgrounds.

The site once was run by the Sandy River Recycling Association, which received a grant to have the pad installed for the composting. Davis said the group ran the site for six or seven years before going out of business in January 2014.

After the recycling group shut down, the town started its own cooperative, taking over the Department of Environmental Protection license for the site and partnering with UMF. And what’s the price tag for the town? Davis said the town has an intern, Colton Hall, working for it, and retired UMF professor Tom Eastler has donated his time and tractor to the cause.

“What we’re doing right now is we’re mainly getting rid of the compost that was left over from Sandy River,” David said, “but we want to keep this going, and when the university is in session, use their food waste. And if we could get food waste picked up or delivered from other institutions too, that will help.”

“That’s the whole concept, to reduce disposal costs. It’s recycling,” Davis said.

Douglas McIntire — 861-9252

dmcintire@centralmaine.com


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