The office of the Vermont Attorney General has approved a new plan for closing Intervale Compost Products (ICP) in Burlington, averting an order that would have closed the facility yesterday. The deal allows for the current facility to remain in operation for a year, until a new, $1.25 million covered-facility in Williston comes on line. In exchange for the delay, the CSWD will pay the state $10,000 on a to-be-named environmental project.
The Chittenden Solid Waste District, which owns and operates Intervale Compost Products, plans on opening a new facility on Redmond Road in Williston in February 2011. The new location will accept the same food, yard, and farm debris as ICP currently accepts, and will process it into compost.
Intervale Compost Products will continue accepting material for composting at the Burlington location through February 28, 2011, and will continue selling bulk compost and other soil products there through June 30, 2011. At that time, it will cease operations. A drop-off point for household compostables and yard trimmings will likely be established in the Burlington area. Those materials would be transported to the Williston site for composting. The complete line of bulk soil products will be available for purchase in Williston when the new site opens.
The move from Burlington to Williston was prompted by concerns over the facility's susceptibility to flooding by the Winooski River and the existence of items of archaeological interest that may lay buried in the current site. The current site processes 44 tons of food and other
organic waste a week.
Without the deal, the composting operation either would have shut down entirely, or been shipped out of the area.
Source: CSWD. 6.30.2010