Picture hundreds of trucks lined up at the ferry terminal, each one loaded with rotting food. That’s essentially what happens every year on Martha’s Vineyard: Approximately 16 million pounds of food waste is sent off-Island to be burned in a mainland incinerator as trash, at a cost to our towns of around $1 million annually. Meanwhile, we import thousands of yards of compost to enrich the soils on our farms, gardens, and playing fields. We are paying to dispose of a resource that we then turn around and pay to replace.
We can do better, and solutions are in reach.
This spring, voters in Oak Bluffs, West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah will see articles on their town meeting warrants to fund the purchase and installation of rapid food-waste recyclers at their local dumps. Compact, easy to use, rodent-proof, and reliable, they are already working in schools and communities across the country. Combined, the proposed municipal units will be able to process more than 450,000 pounds of food waste each year, creating a nutrient-rich soil amendment that townspeople could then bring home.
Our four towns would be joining 160 cities and towns across Massachusetts that already offer local food-waste processing, making it easy and convenient for residents to separate their food waste and lower their trash bills.
They would also be joining our Island schools in committing to food-waste reduction and onsite processing. Three Island schools — the Charter School, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, and the Chilmark School — are having food-waste recyclers installed this spring. The Charter School’s unit is already up and running, converting the school’s food scraps into nutrients that will be applied directly to their school garden and food forest, and giving students hands-on experiences in the full cycle of food, from seed to plate to soil. Fundraising is underway for the remaining four public schools, all of which are excited to host their own food-waste recyclers.
The warrant articles this spring represent the first time our municipalities would take direct responsibility for food-waste processing, which is the appropriate thing to do. Solid waste is a municipal responsibility, and food waste is solid waste. The time is right for our towns to step up and transform what is now a waste problem into an environmental and economic solution.
Food waste is one of the most significant, and most solvable, challenges of our time. Nationally, 30 to 40 percent of all food grown is never eaten. The average American family spends roughly $3,000 a year on food they buy but never eat. Globally, wasted food uses 25 percent of the world’s fresh water, 19 percent of its fertilizers, and 18 percent of its agricultural land, and accounts for eight to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Voting yes on these articles is one of the most concrete, practical votes Island residents can cast for climate and environmental health, while lowering household trash costs, reducing municipal expenses, and building the soil that grows our food.
Let’s stop shipping our food waste to the mainland. Instead, let’s turn it into something that feeds the Island.
For more information, please contact sophie@igimv.org.
Noli Taylor is co-executive director at Island Grown Initiative, and Sophie Mazza is a Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellow, and food-waste director at Island Grown Initiative.