As of July 1, 2020, all food scraps and other organics are banned from the landfill, including those from individual residents.
Residents are NOT required to compost in their backyards, but still need to separate their food scraps into buckets or bins and choose from the following options:
- Bring your food scraps to a local food waste collection site (like transfer stations). Consult your local waste management district to find a location near you.
- Hire a hauler who provides curbside food scrap pick-up. Haulers must offer food scrap collection to apartment buildings with four or more residential units unless another hauler is already providing that service. Here is a list of organic waste haulers from VT DEC.
- Join a community composting site. Community composting is becoming more common - at community gardens, farms, libraries, and other locations as well. While there is no list of Vermont community composting sites (yet), you can reach out to the Composting Association of Vermont or the Vermont Community Garden Network, or simply post on your front porch forum to see if there’s already a location in your community.
- Compost in your backyard. There are plenty of good resources, webinars and live trainings to learn how to compost. Our “Composting At Home” page has some helpful resources to get started. Also note that the Vermont state law allows residents who compost in their backyards to dispose of meat and bones in the trash.
To learn more about how to reduce your waste and manage your food scraps, check out this resource by VT ANR.