Scituate to profit from going green with yard waste

A local recycling firm has agreed to pay the town about $600,000 over 10 years to lease a site on the Driftway where it will accept yard waste at no charge to the town or residents and convert it into mulch and other saleable products.

The agreement with Go Green Landscape Supply takes effect July 1. But the firm has been accepting residential and other green waste at the approximately 4-acre site since last October under an interim agreement with the town.

"It's very innovative," said Tim Lopes, owner of Go Green. "It's a huge problem for municipalities to get rid of this stuff, and for the town of Scituate to actually be making money on their green waste is very unique."

Scituate, like most communities, has been paying to dispose of the grass clippings, leaves, and other lawn waste brought to its transfer station.

Public Works director Albert Bangert said the new agreement will yield $40,000 to $45,000 for the town in the first year alone, an important savings during a time of municipal cutbacks across the state. That benefit will come from reducing disposal and labor costs, and adding lease payments that will start at $30,000 the first year and increase over time. After the 10 years, Go Green has three five-year options to extend the lease.

"We are very pleased," Bangert said. "We think it provides a much better service to our residents with a cost savings to the town." Bangert said residents benefit because of the additional days and hours they can drop off yard waste. The transfer station is open five days a week, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; the new drop-off site, located just east of the transfer station, is open seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Residents also won't have to pay. Last summer, before entering into the interim agreement, the town began charging residents to help reduce the transfer station's operational deficit.

Bangert said there is now a smoother flow of traffic in and out of the transfer station because vehicles with yard waste are using the other site. And removal of the yard waste frees up needed space at the station.

Rick Murray, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the close proximity of the transfer station and the new drop-off site is another plus. "It's about a half-mile on the way to the transfer station on the main drag so you either drive by it on your way there or drive by it on your way out. So it's very, very convenient."

"It's a nice relationship because it gives him a place he can conduct his business in Scituate," Bangert said of Go Green owner Lopes, who lives in Scituate. "And it gives Scituate residents a real advantage in that they can readily dispose of their yard waste in a responsible way."

"It's absolutely a win-win all around," Murray said, citing the benefits to the town, the residents, and Lopes. "We hear all about public-private partnerships, but here is one . . . that is actually going to work," Murray said.

Local landscapers, tree companies, and excavation firms can also bring green waste to Lopes' Scituate site. His firm uses grinding and screening machines to convert the grass, leaves, brush, stumps, and other waste into sellable compost, loam, mulch, wood chips, and firewood.

"The townspeople get seven days a week and longer hours to dump stuff," Lopes said. "The town gets paid for their green waste, and I get a place to process green waste and run my business, and lots of raw materials."

Bangert said he is not aware of other communities that have a similar arrangement in place.

Under the interim agreement, the town is paying Lopes about $7,500 over nine months. Before starting his business last October, Lopes and a partner ran a similar company. For several years until last summer, Scituate paid that firm $10,000 a year to accept its green waste, which was hauled by the town to the Driftway site.

Prior to that, Scituate was spending about $30,000 to have green waste at the transfer station ground up and hauled away.

Lopes, 42, grew up in Norwell, graduating from the town's high school in 1985, and from Boston College in 1989. Even with the difficult economy, he said his business is faring well, bolstered by his agreement with the town. He expects to have six to nine people working for him during the spring to fall months.

"My past experience tells me that even in a bad economy, people still want their homes to look beautiful," he said.