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How new program takes hassles out of composting in Lombard

Lombard residents who want to help the environment now have a new option that doesn't involve the smell and rodent hazards of a compost pile in the backyard.

The village is launching a curbside compost program that will allow residents to opt in to a service from Waste Management that provides a new bin for weekly pickup of their biodegradable food scraps and yard waste.

The program will cost $120 a year for a gray compost toter and weekly service offered the same weeks as yard waste removal — the first full week of April through the second full week of December.

Dave Gorman, assistant director of public works, said Lombard looked into offering the new service after a few residents asked trustees and staff members whether it would be possible. The service already is available in nearby communities including Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Naperville, Schaumburg and Wheaton, and it earns high marks for offering an easier way to compost, Gorman said.

Instead of piling compostables such as fruits and vegetables, grass clippings, dryer lint and fireplace ashes in a corner and hoping the heap doesn't attract vermin or emit a sour smell, Gorman said residents now can place such things in the covered gray bin for regular removal.

The optional service is in addition to regular yard waste collection, which doesn't come with a specific container.

Residents instead fill their own cans or paper bags and place stickers on them to pay for removal. Residents who have a large amount of yard waste or don't want to fuss with bags and stickers can join the new program, even if they don't plan to compost.

“This program would not require the stickers anymore, so that's one thing that is very attractive about it,” Gorman said.

Lombard residents also can use a separate village program to be reimbursed up to $80 for the purchase of their own compost bin. By submitting a receipt and a photo of the installed bin to the public works department, residents can apply for the reimbursement grant, which Gorman said has helped Lombardians pay for nearly 300 compost bins since 2009.

Gorman said the village encourages residents to check the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website for an updated list of items to compost and not to compost. Officials hope a few hundred people sign up for the new program.

In Naperville, where the program has been offered the past three years, 1,130 residents have signed up.

Once Waste Management picks up the compost and yard waste, Gorman said the company dumps it into rows on a field and plows it. Time turns it into soil, which the company then sells.

This is already the process with yard waste, which Gorman said is not placed into landfills because it would not get enough oxygen to break down.

“Some of the other towns really promote it as yard waste collection, simply,” Gorman said about the new service. “By referring to it as curbside composting, we hope to do a little public education that this is a separate waste stream. It's a more responsible way to handle things that will biodegrade, and maybe we will have a more productive use out of it, rather than putting it in a landfill.”

Residents can sign up for the new program by calling Waste Management at (800) 796-9696 or visiting www.wm.com/residential/curbside-waste-pickup.jsp.

Composting do's and don'ts

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