“It’s just really exciting to have seen this process through to fruition,” said Sari Steuber, a leader of Transition Town Media and member of the borough’s composting committee. And we’re really delighted to be able to somewhat seamlessly incorporate it into our waste management systems here at the borough,” Taussig-Lux said.įor those that have seen the project through from birth to completion, there is a great sense of pride. “We’re still working out the kinks in figuring out where all the buckets are going to be, but it seems to be working. However, they soon realized they could simply intermingle the new compost program with the existing yard waste services.
Initially, borough officials thought of charging residents a low rate for the composting services. This undertaking was not, and is not, as easy as it seems. Now the borough’s own public works staff picks up composting waste alongside yard waste every Wednesday and takes it to Kitchen Harvest at Linvilla Orchards. They finally greenlit a townwide expansion of the composting program. This time the participant pool more than doubled to 220 households.ĭuring budget season at the end of last year, Media Borough Council had seen enough. With such positive feedback, the borough brought the composting pilot back for round two in 2020. And then we had … 100% satisfaction when people rated how happy they were with the program,” Taussig-Lux said. First of all, we had like 80% returns on the surveys. “We did surveys during the pilot, and we had remarkable results. Residents were very receptive to the new program. We had our committee writing regular newsletters and updates to this select group of 100 households, and we really used this group to learn about how could this run smoothly,” Johnson said. “We provided yellow buckets to each of the participants and we provided an orientation. With a place for the waste to go, the borough could now look further into composting as a viable solution. Upon an initial look into the possibility, local officials ran into a problem: They didn’t know where the composted waste would go.Įventually, the borough learned of a local composting farm, Kitchen Harvest, which operates out of Linvilla Orchards and was already picking up the compost of several residents and even a nearby business. “We have gotten a couple of calls about how we did this program, how we expanded the program, and it’s really great to see some of my colleagues, other managers in townships and boroughs, reaching out and trying to learn how they can replicate the service,” said Brittany Forman, the borough manager of Media.ĭespite the appearance of overnight success, the excursion into composting was many years in the making.
But so far, the expansion of the yellow bucket has been well-received not just from residents, but from other municipalities as well.Ī flower pot sits next to a Media compost bucket. “This is just an important step … towards making a real impact on the environment that we can do collectively as a town,” said Amy Johnson, vice president of Media Borough Council.īefore July, the composting program only existed in its pilot form. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor
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