Tag Archives: cswd

Harvest Festival at Adams Apple Orchard This Sat-Sun

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Adams Orchard

Chittenden Solid Waste District and Sustainable Williston will team up at Adams Apple Orchard and Farm Market’s Harvest Festival this Saturday and Sunday, September 24-25, from 10am to 5pm each day.

We’ll be sharing information on composting, reducing waste, and sustainability efforts here in Williston and offering a paper tree where adults and kids can add leaves with their sustainability hopes and wishes. CSWD is giving away a free composter: come to the tent and sign up to be entered to win. You can find us in the upper orchard, by Dizzy’s Dozen cider doughnuts.

Other offerings include a walk/run through the orchard with RaceVermont, staged family photos, furry costumed characters, and lots of food, including fresh cider doughnuts.

CSWD Now Recycles Single-Use Batteries (for free)

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As of this past January 1st, Chittenden Solid Waste District, our local solid waste management organization, now accepts single-use batteries for free recycling at drop-off centers and the environmental depot. Batteries have a much bigger carbon footprint than most things their sizes, and they add toxicity to landfills when just thrown away, so this is pretty great news for anyone interested in a cleaner environment or fighting climate change.

batteries

Here are the details from CSWD:

Starting January 1, 2016, CSWD Drop-Off Centers and the Environmental Depot will begin accepting  alkaline single-use batteries for recycling. To date, we have been able to accept only button-cell, lithium, rechargeable, lead-acid, and NiCd batteries for recycling. We are now adding single-use batteries to the roster of recyclable batteries.

Vermont is the first state to pass a product stewardship law that requires manufacturers of single-use batteries to pay for the collection and recycling of their products. An organization called Call2Recycle is overseeing the state-wide program, setting up nearly 100 collection sites. Since 1994, Call2Recycle has kept 100 million pounds of used batteries out of the landfill across the country.

All seven CSWD Drop-Off Centers and the Environmental Depot will accept single-use and other types of batteries free of charge, beginning in January.

★ DO NOT recycle batteries of any kind in your blue recycling bin or cart. They cannot be recycled with bottles, cans, paper, and other mandatory recyclables. They must be brought to a Drop-Off Center or the Environmental Depot for recycling.

Photo by John Seb Barber

Free backyard composting workshops Sep 14 & 15

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A message from the Chittenden Solid Waste District:

Discover the benefits of “closing the loop” with your own household food scraps in this interactive, hands-on demonstration of a healthy compost system — one that works for you all year ’round!

Compost1Compost2

WHEN: Monday, September 14, 5-6 pm and Tuesday, September 15, 5 to 6 pm.
WHERE: Green Mountain Compost Edu-Shed (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: This is a popular class and space is limited — sign up here to reserve your spot: http://bit.ly/1FA2RlJ

Here’s what you’ll learn:
– What type of bin is best for you
– Where to locate your bin
– What to put into your bin (and what to avoid!)
– How to manage your bin
– Troubleshooting
– Harvesting your compost
– Alternatives to a backyard bin (pick up service, or drop-off composting)

Great Free Events on Composting, Gardening, Fruit Trees, and More

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reposted from a CSWD announcement
The Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) and Green Mountain Compost are joining the rest of the planet in celebrating International Compost Awareness Week, May 3-9, with a roster of fun, soil-boosting workshops and activities. Check out the list below and reserve your spot at CSWD’s Compost Awareness Week web page at http://cswd.net/composting/compost-awareness-week/

Green Mountain Compost

* Monday May 4 and Friday, May 8, 5-6 PM: Green Mountain Compost facility tour (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
Learn where food scraps, yard trimmings, and even paper towels, napkins and pizza boxes become healthy soil. Get the dirt on a facility that incorporates leading technology gleaned from around the country-built right here in Williston, Vermont. Sign up to reserve your spot!

* Tuesday May 5 and Thursday, May 7, 5-6 PM: Backyard Composting workshops at Green Mountain Compost (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
Discover the benefits of “closing the loop” and building soils with your own household food scraps in this popular interactive session. Geared for adults. Sign up to reserve your spot!

* Wednesday, May 6, 5-6 PM: Edible Forest Gardens Workshop at Green Mountain Compost (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
Join Meghan Giroux from Vermont Edible Landscapes for a free workshop on creating edible forest gardens. Discover how to design, establish and maintain these edible ecosystems that mimic the structure and function of natural forests. Sign up to reserve your spot!

* Saturday, May 9, 10-3: CSWD/GMC at Kid’s Day at Burlington Waterfront
Join CSWD’s School Outreach Coordinator Rhonda Mace with a recycle relay race, photo ops where you pose as decomposers and/or food, a live composting worm farm, and up-close look at worms through a microscope.

* Saturday, May 9, 9-1:30: Vermont Community Garden Network’s Day in the Dirt
Help prepare community garden sites in Burlington that feed our schools and neighborhoods. ( Sign up with the Vermont Community Garden Network at http://vcgn.org/day-in-the-dirt/ )

Sign up for workshops on the CSWD Compost Awareness Week web page at http://cswd.net/composting/compost-awareness-week/

Join the CSWD Waste Warriors

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This post courtesy of Chittenden Solid Waste District

Are you a rampant recycler?
Do you carry your banana peel home when you can’t find a compost bin?
Are you on a mission to reduce waste and spread good fun in the process?

If so, we want you!  We’re looking for friendly, enthusiastic, volunteer Waste Warriors to help bring our waste reduction mission to life at Chittenden County events.

waste warriors

Your Waste Warrior opportunity starts with a free one-hour training, where you’ll become a certified CSWD Waste Warrior. Come meet like-minded neighbors, have a snack, and learn how to help make composting and recycling efforts at local events successful. You’ll learn:

  • How to determine what goes into recycling and composting containers (It’s not always as easy as you think – there are a lot of different kinds of materials and products out there!)
  • How to communicate with attendees in ways that help them learn
  • How to help an event up their game in making sure as much as possible stays out of the landfill
  • And more!

Sign up today! The Waste Warrior training dates are:

  • Monday, February 2nd
    5:30-6:30PM
    Contois Auditorium (City Hall), Burlington
  • Thursday, March 12th
    5:30-6:30PM
    Contois Auditorium (City Hall), Burlington

Waste Warrior Training Signup

Use the form here to sign up for a Waste Warrior training session.

CSWD Seeking Citizen Advisory Committee Participants

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From Clare Innes at Chittenden Solid Waste District:

The Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) is forming a Citizen Advisory Committee to get public input on a proposal to change how trash and recycling is picked up from households in Chittenden County. CSWD has been examining a system called “consolidated collection,” whereby the County is divided into trash and recycling collection districts. Each district would be serviced by one hauler, who will be selected based on how they meet specific criteria.

CSWD is investigating introducing consolidated collection to Chittenden County because of its potential to reduce collection costs and the impact of excessive truck traffic on roads and the environment. Largely due to these economic and environmental efficiencies, consolidated collection is the most common form of residential service in the country. However, residents would no longer be able to choose their hauler.

For more information on consolidated collection, visit http://cswd.net/consolidated-collection.

The Committee of 12-15 members will meet four times, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on July 31, August 14 & 28, and September 11 at CSWD’s Administrative Office in Williston. A light meal will be provided.

If you are interested in serving on this committee, please email the following information by noon on July 16th to advisory@cswd.net (the information will be used to ensure a wide spectrum of participants):

Name:
City/Town/Village of residence:
E-mail address:
Phone number:
Age:
Gender:
Occupation:
Whether you rent or own your home:
Number of units in your building (e.g., single-family, duplex, 4 apartments, etc.):
Whether a hauler collects your trash curbside or you self-haul to a drop-off center:
Name of current hauler:
Have you heard of consolidated collection systems? If so, based on what you currently know, would you support or oppose this kind of system for Chittenden County?
Confirm availability on the 4 dates:

Tonight: Free showing of Bag It

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Bag It! poster

An average guy makes a resolution to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Little does he know that this simple decision will change his life completely. He comes to the conclusion that our consumptive use of plastic has finally caught up to us, and looks at what we can do about it. Today. Right now.

Watch the trailer: scroll down to or click on this link for the March 11th entry.

Free showing of Bag It! The Movie

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Try going a day without plastic. Plastic is everywhere and infiltrates our lives in unimaginable and frightening ways. In this touching and often flat-out-funny film, we follow “everyman” Jeb Berrier, who is admittedly not a tree hugger, as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its affect on our waterways, oceans, and even our own bodies. We see how our crazy-for-plastic world has finally caught up to us and what we can do about it. Today. Right now.

WHEN: Monday, March 31, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 21 Library Lane, Williston

COST: It’s Free! Please bring your own cup and bowl for local popcorn and cider and help keep this event “zero waste.”  Enter to win raffle prizes and a chance to win a backyard SoilSaver compost bin too!

INFO:  This event is hosted by Sustainable Williston, Dorothy Alling Memorial Library and Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD). Film is best suited for ages 12 and up. For more info contact Marge Keough/CSWD at 802-872-8100 x234.

Art from Trash: Creative Reuse Showcase

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News from The Chittenden Solid Waste District:

Breakfast at Tape-anys by Sarina Cannizzaro

18th Annual CSWD Creative Reuse Art Showcase

The CSWD Creative Reuse Showcase is an art competition for Chittenden County students in grades 9 through 12. The purpose of the Showcase is to encourage students and the community in general to reduce waste by reconsidering what we consume and discard. Creative Reuse Showcase art is made from items and materials that have been used for their original purpose and then discarded either as landfill-bound trash or as recycling.

By entering, students compete for hundreds of dollars in cash and prizes from local sponsors. They may also earn a spot in a month-long exhibit of the Showcase at Frog Hollow Vermont State Craft Gallery in Burlington.

See the Showcase:

March 7: Showcase art exhibit opening at Frog Hollow. 85 Church St., Burlington, during First Friday Art Walk.

March 27 Closing Awards Bash at Frog Hollow. 6-7 pm (Awards at 6:30 pm)

More information at http://cswd.net/reduce-and-reuse/creative-reuse-showcase/