Why you should consider a composting service

Did you know that each year Massachusetts households, businesses, and institutions discard enough garbage that, when compacted, would fill 3,000 Olympic swimming pools? At this rate, officials estimate that our existing landfills will close by 2030. Composting can reduce the volume of waste bound for landfills by 30-50%. It could reduce our Transfer Station trash costs by reducing the trash volume when many more residents compost. Few Harvard residents, however, have the ability or the space to…

By Nancy Hartshorne, associate member of the Climate Initiative Committee

Composting can reduce the volume of waste bound for landfills by 30-50%. It could reduce our Transfer Station trash costs by reducing the trash volume when many more residents compost.

Few Harvard residents, however, have the ability or the space to compost all of their food scraps. Let’s take a typical Thanksgiving meal, things like the turkey bones, leftover bits of meat, skin, turkey grease, mashed potatoes, cheese, gravy-soaked stuffing, buttered biscuits, candied yams, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream are generally scraped into our kitchen trash after dinner. If we tried to compost these scraps in our backyard composter, we would be inviting every hungry scavenger to their own special backyard feast. But there is an animal-proof alternative.

Black Earth Compost offers curbside food waste pickup that takes all food scraps, and some household materials as well. Black Earth accepts meat, eggs, and seafood, including bones, shells, raw, and spoiled; dairy products; cooking oils and grease; compost-certified tableware; pet waste from rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, hamsters, and birds; wine corks; corn cobs; nut shells; and so much more. They also offer many add-on pickup services like yard waste, textiles, electronics, Styrofoam, and TerraCycle Zero Waste Bags, greatly reducing the volume of what ends up in our landfills.

The Harvard Climate Initiative Committee has been gathering interest in our community for this service from Black Earth. To date, we have 91 residents who have already preregistered with Black Earth. We need just nine more households for Black Earth to offer curbside pickup throughout Harvard.

The cost is $94.99 for residential pick up every other week for 6-month intervals. There is a onetime cost of $39.50 for a bin and your first batch of compostable starter bags. Each household also will receive a bag of the finished Black Earth compost (black gold for gardens!) once a year.

Here are answers to questions asked by some of your neighbors:

Won’t the compost bin also attract critters?

Just like your garbage cans, critters may investigate your bin depending on access. Storing in a closed garage, barn, or storage shed with the lid tightly closed reduces this access. I often store messy, meaty food scraps in my freezer (especially in the summer!) before adding to the trash the night before pickup or the day of a dump run.

What happens if I have a long driveway and can’t get my bin to the curb?

No problem. Black Earth will come up your drive, directly to your home for a $3.25 surcharge.

What if I spend three months out of the year at my vacation home or traveling?

Again, no problem … simply notify Black Earth with the dates and your service will be paused and resumed accordingly.

Doesn’t composting also produce methane, the potent greenhouse gas?

Yes, but at a much lower level if a compost pile is properly managed. Specifically, proper aeration of a compost pile provides enough oxygen to the microorganism so, just like us, they produce carbon dioxide when they “exhale,” not methane. Imagine what happens when we dump our food waste in a plastic bag headed for a landfill? The microorganisms literally can’t breathe, food waste decomposes without oxygen, and methane gas is produced.

Overall, Black Earth residential curbside pickup of food scraps makes composting easy and efficient for all of us who can’t compost thoroughly or successfully at home. The diversion of food waste prolongs the life of our existing landfills and their finished compost provides nourishment for our gardens.

From The Harvard Press by Nancy Hartshorne · October 31, 2025

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