Newton Offers Curbside Composting Now

NEWTON, MA — The city partnered with Black Earth Compost to cut Newton residents a deal if they want to start composting. It's not free, but it's a step toward encouraging residents to reduce trash and what ends up getting sent to the landfill, say authorities. The program started about two weeks ago and each week more folks are signing up, according to the city.

There have been several options around town - from Bootstrap to City Compost and the very local Dirty Boys compost - for those who wanted to give composting a shot. But the city's curbside program with Black Earth has the potential to be a bit less expensive the more people sign up.

Right now, weekly compost pickup is about $60 for six months, which works out to be around $10 a month for those who join the city approved program. So far, some 1,000 households have that service. When the number goes up to 3,000, then the price will go down to around $8 a month. There's also a startup fee of $34 for a 13-gallon lockable bin for you to put your scraps into curbside. It's not clear if the price will go down even further if more than that start participating.

Newton partnered with Black Earth Compost to offer weekly household curbside food waste such as meat, dairy, fruit, veggies, coffee grounds, tea bags. The city went out to bid to vet a vendor and Black Earth won.

But there are other options that service Newton.

Boston-based Bootstrap Compost gives you a bucket, lid and liner each week and you put the gallon bucket out each Thursday and they pick it up and give you a clean bucket. One month is $40, or about $10 a week.

Then there's the Greater Boston area's City Compost. It's weekly service runs about $20 a month, or $5 a week. They'll also supply the gallon bucket that you take out to the curb each week, and they give you a pail to put in your kitchen scraps in.

And last, if you're looking less for curbside, and more to start your own back yard compost effort, there's Newton's own Dirty Boys Composting, run by two Newton grads. It will cost you about $160 to get started here, but it comes with regular visits from the experts themselves, and they'll walk you through the how-tos.

Here's a look at a PSA from Black Earth:

Cambridge started offering free curbside compost last year. Brookline has a couple drop off locations and is considering curbside. Boston is piloting curbside composting and textile recycling.

Read these, too:

Boston To Pilot Curbside Compost, Textile Recycling ( June)

Cambridge Just Expanded Its Free Curbside Composting ( 2018)

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).