Greenburgh board debates curbside food-scrap pickup; advisory council urges survey and pilot options

Conservation Advisory Council Chair Theresa Tory and members presented a plan at the March 18 Greenburgh town board work session to expand curbside collection to include food scraps.

Tory said residents already drop compostable materials at several town locations and recommended starting curbside service on the towns second weekly pickup day. She described options including contracting with a private hauler, borrowing specialized trucks from nearby Scarsdale to start service, or offering an opt-in townwide program for residents who request containers.

Tory said education will be essential and urged a community survey to measure interest and participation. "If we'd offer it as a servicewe wouldn't be expecting everyone to do it, but those people who indicated they wanted to do it, the town would provide them with the appropriate container to put out," she said. Board members and staff flagged short-term costs, staffing and tipping-fee impacts and suggested coordinating with Westchester County programs that subsidize transport and disposal.

Student Sarah Hu and other CAC members noted examples from Scarsdale and county pilots that can reduce long-term disposal costs by shifting material out of high-tipping-fee waste streams.

The board asked staff and the sanitary commissioner to run cost estimates, examine truck-equipment options, and work with CAC volunteers to produce a resident survey; a staff follow-up meeting was proposed to refine a roll-out plan and a possible pilot.

No formal vote was taken.