By Geena Monahan-For the North Star Reporter
A new change to the almost 60-year-old composting facility in North Attleborough went into effect at the beginning of April: Plainville residents may now take home some of the free compost the town has to offer.
North Attleborough residents have taken to social media to express their concerns over the supply of compost that will be available to residents. Evan Tibbetts, highway superintendent for the town and Brian Taylor, highway foreman, met with the North Star Reporter for a tour the facility and to explain why this move is a benefit for the town.
To Taylor, opening up the facility for Plainville residents to use is a way to gain additional materials to make compost, such as leaves, grass and brush, which Plainville residents can bring in. Taylor also mentioned that mutually beneficial relationships between North Attleborough and neighboring towns have been around for years.
“We’re making money, we’re not spending your tax dollars foolishly,” said Taylor. “At the end of the day, they’re giving us money. What they bring in, we’re processing and selling. Their footprint is so small, you wouldn’t even know they’re coming in here.”
To date, the Highway Department has produced approximately 20,000 cubic yards of compost, with about 11,000 yards of it being sold to contractors and landscaping companies at a price of $10 per yard. According to Taylor, nurseries sell the same compost for around $48 per yard.
Taylor O’Neil, North Attleborough’s communications and information officer, was also at the compost facility and elaborated on how any revenue made there goes back into the general fund, becoming available to fund other capital improvement projects that are in the works.
“This entire process is a benefit to the town,” said O’Neil. “Not only are they getting compost for free, not only do we have partnerships with Plainville who help bolster what we have to get more compost, we’re also selling it to local businesses at a better price than private competitors, so we’re getting more business.”
The facility itself is set back down a long, winding driveway off of Plain Street on 14 acres that borders the Town Forest. Six windrows—compost in various stages of the process, which takes about five years—can be seen upon arrival, set across the parking lot from the pile of compost available for residents to take from on weekends.
According to Taylor, the purchase of a new trommel screener two years ago has dramatically improved the town’s ability to create compost and other materials, and future plans to purchase a compost row turner will help speed the process along.
The trommel screener, which was purchased for $195,000 in 2023, has paid for itself in only two years’ time. Between the revenue from compost sales and production of in-house materials that no longer have to be purchased, Director of the Department of Public Works Mark Hollowell estimates the return on investment to be approximately $275,000 to $300,000, along with a quality product for residents to take for free.
Another advantage the screener provides is the ability for the town to process and create its own materials. The dirt roads that weave through the facility are lined with towering piles of sand to mix concrete with and use during the winter months, along with stones and rocks of varying sizes and screened loam. These materials are used widely throughout the town by the water and highway departments where fill is needed.
“This saves the residents thousands a year, because we’re producing our own material,” said Taylor. “In the past, we had a budget, I think it was $10,000, to purchase material. We now have our own gravel, we have our own screener to process everything we need for our daily projects.”
Looking to the future
Hollowell elaborated on what the future for the composting facility looks like at the Finance Subcommittee’s May 8 meeting, where he presented details on a capital improvement project to purchase a compost row turner.
According to Hollowell, demand is exceeding supply. Two years ago, about 8,000 to 9,000 yards of compost were sold, and demand increased so much last year that they ran out of material to make new piles.
“This (compost turner) will allow us to break it down faster, so our rows will move faster,” said Hollowell. “But, that’s where I get to the problem of where I don’t have enough product to produce (more compost); that’s why we invited Plainville to come in.”
Currently, the process to turn over the six rows of compost takes two days for two loaders to turn over each pile individually, a process Hollowell called inefficient. A compost row turner, however, could do the whole job in one day. The compost turner can also inject water into rows, which kills weed seeds and allows microorganisms to heat up the soil more as they degrade.
“We’re trying to get a business model going where we can sell more product,” said Hollowell. “I could probably only make about 12,000 to 14,000 yards a year, we give five-to-6,000 to residents. So, we’re hoping to be able to make $80,000 to $100,000 a year on this.”
Looking forward, Hollowell laid out a plan to eventually allow landscaping companies to come in, where they’d be charged an annual fee to dump leaves and grass. Hollowell estimated that this could bring in $30,000 to $40,000 in fees, while also giving the town additional feedstock to create more compost to sell.
“We have a new company that sampled our compost and they’re interested in buying it, STS Construction, which does a lot of huge athletic fields, and when asked ‘how much do you think you’ll buy?’ Their comment was ‘all of it.’”