Verificación y pruebas

I found that the haulers and composters generally feel that Vermonters support the

successful implementation of Act 148. Vermont residents are often community oriented and have a fundamental belief in the importance of diverting organic waste from the landfill. However, the outlying interviews indicated that while a general consensus on diverting organic waste exists, there are still those that do not care and will not be motivated to follow the new law. This is important because if residents, business owners and institutions in Vermont have a base

understanding and interest in organic waste diversion it opens an avenue for creative solutions.

This could mean that a greater effort is made to use existing infrastructure in innovative ways.

One possibility that Leddy from the NWVSWD pointed out is using community gardens as central points for rural communities to drop off their organic waste. Another possibility that was frequently brought up was backyard composting. If residents are able to compost in their

backyards a lot of the pressure on building facilities in rural regions in Vermont will be relieved.

Leddy and Sandberg expressed that many Vermonters who live in rural settings are already composting. It is something that they have always done.

This finding indicates that using creative solutions such as home composting and

community gardens could reduce many of the concerns around the cost of hauling waste in rural

areas. The relief in financial pressure on haulers could create space for a financial effort in

educating rural communities on composting and providing home composting kits. The focus then is shifted to mitigate the contamination predicted in organic waste loads in the more densely populated areas of Vermont.

In Zero Waste Solutions by Paul Connet, he supports the need for creative solutions and emphasizes that we need to focus on the products going to the consumer as well as how their end life is handled. “Waste is the evidence that we are doing something wrong. Our task in the twenty-first century is not to find more and more sophisticated ways to destroy our material resources but to persuade industry and retailers to stop making products and using packaging that have to be destroyed” (Connett, 2013). Act 148 has the intention of reducing waste but it also has the power to change the connotation of waste as we know it. Changing the way waste is thought about could be a catalyst for changes on the production end of consumerism. Vermont and the businesses within it, have the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the country.

Enforcement

I found that a big concern held by the composting and hauling community is the issue of enforcement. Haulers are concerned that they will be the main enforcement entity and will not have the resources to do that. Composters are concerned that the type of trucks haulers are using does not allow them to see the contamination going into a load of organic waste. The different types of trucks either allow haulers to look into the feedstocks to judge whether the load is contaminated or not. In addition, one composter, Karl Hammer expressed his concern on accountability, specifically around the use of compostable tote liners. He expressed his concern

Enforcing that there is no contamination in the load of organic waste will be of major importance as the implementation process moves forwards. This is also important to haulers as they decide to invest in new infrastructure for their business. This is also germane to the issue of who the haulers are delivering the organic waste feedstocks to and whether or not they accept

compostable plastics. This is also a pertinent concern when confronting how the Act will be enforced and who will realistically be able to take on that role.

In the DSM Environmental report they addressed the issues of enforcement and found that unit based pricing for subscription pick up will provide some incentive for residents and businesses to separate their organics, however it is likely that enforcement will still be needed at the point of transfer and disposal. In order to successfully implement the Act, the report states that districts and private haulers will need to play a role in enforcement (DSM Environmental Services et al., 2013). However, the report also states that, “it is unreasonable to assume that private haulers will voluntarily enforce mandatory separation because they risk losing customers to haulers who are more lenient” (DSM Environmental Services et al., 2013). A level playing field must be created for the hauling community. The lack of a level playing field for all haulers will be a key concern for municipalities, districts, private haulers and ANR. The report also states that this can only happen “if there are inspections of refuse loads at the point of transfer or disposal, and if ANR is prepared to adopt regulations concerning load inspections”(DSM

Environmental Services et al., 2013). The report outlines that this is the only possible way to reach high organics diversion rates due to unsustainable economic funding.