Vermont composting resources
Vermont bans food scraps from the landfill under Act 148. Since July 2020 that has applied to households, not just businesses. In practice that means composting at home, subscribing to a hauler, or using a drop-off site. Below: the practical detail on composting in Vermont, and what most guides leave out.
This is the local section of a national site. Vermont is where this project started and where the advice gets stress-tested. If a method survives here it works anywhere warmer. Everything outside this section applies nationwide, and there are guides for other climates if you are composting somewhere very different.
Start here
- Act 148 and what it requiresThe universal recycling law in plain English.
- Drop-off sitesWhere to take scraps if you are not composting at home.
- Buying compost in VermontBulk and bagged sources, and how to judge what you are buying.
- Vermont growing zonesZones 3b to 5a, and what that means for your season.
- Vermont gardeningShort season, cold soil, and how compost helps with both.
- Farmers marketsWhere to find local growers and, often, local compost.
Why a national site is headquartered in Vermont
A short season, cold wet springs, heavy clay in places, and a genuine legal requirement to divert food scraps. If a composting method survives a Vermont winter it will work almost anywhere in the country.
Composting 101, written here in Vermont
Fourteen pages of the essentials, tested in the hardest composting climate in the country. Free, and it works whether your winter is Vermont's or somebody milder.
Further reading on composting in Vermont
Independent sources worth reading alongside this page: Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation · EPA, Sustainable Management of Food.