Curbside Food Scraps Pick Up - Available in Larchmont Manor & Village by MHS Students

I wanted to let supporters of Side/Back trash pickup effort know of a local and free food scraps (composting) curbside pick up service that has just been started by Mamaroneck High School students who study Civics in the OCRA program (Original Civics Research and Action) and develop solutions to community issues.  A group of students has started a pilot program in a limited area of Larchmont Manor and Larchmont Village (see map above and detail below) where they pick up food scraps which have been placed curbside by residents in compostable bags and bins by 8:15 am Saturday mornings.  The students then transport the scraps to the Maxwell Ave Recycling Center located by I-95. 

For composting households, this is a huge convenience and eliminates the need to go to the dump or store food scraps in the freezer (as we did).  The student’s premise is also that a free pickup service will encourage more families to save their food scraps for composting, thereby reducing solid waste and building compost volume in the community, which aids the environment and reduces costs.  It is amazing that the students have been able to start a service that has perplexed our local government.

The students hope to expand the area of service as they implement the operation.  The zones, shown in the map above, are in the Manor from Boston Post Road to Walnut, from Larchmont Ave to the bottom of Kane.  The Village zone extends from Palmer to Forest Park Avenue, from Chatsworth Avenue to Hall Avenue near Turtle Park. If you are in one of the 2 zones presently operational and would like to have your food scraps picked up, you can sign up using this form.

If you would like to participate in the service as it expands to your area, or have other questions for the students, email them here: volfoodscrapspickup@gmail.com

Additional notes about food scraps composting:

 1.  Larchmont and Mamaroneck sell starter composting kits with a small under counter 2 gallon bin, a larger 6 gallon storage bin to hold the filled bags, and a box with 25 compostable plastic bags  - all for $20.  You can pick up a kit at the Maxwell Ave Recycling Center.  The Larchmont Mamaroneck Joint Sanitation Commission has an information sheet about composting food scraps, recycling center hours, and the kit which can be accessed here.

2.  In the spring, residents are offered the opportunity to go to Maxwell Dump and take composted soil for their gardens at no charge on what I like to call “dirt day”.  It is apparently a rich soil which is good for the yard and garden.

Bravo and thanks to these students who work under the direction of Mr. Joseph Liberti, Mamaroneck High School Social Studies teacher.

Best, Wendy Weinstein