Time to talk trash.

Did you know our state’s collective household trash makes up more than 10% of all statewide emissions? The bulk of that comes from landfills releasing methane and other greenhouse gases.

Composting is one way to cut down on all that. It’s cheap and pretty easy to do. The composting program in Beacon is setting an example for the entire region.

What some see as trash, Phillip Stamatis sees as recycled food waste.

Stamatis is into composting and there are three drop-off sites in Beacon alone. He’s a volunteer for the city. Before heading to work, every week, Stamatis drops off his own used food scraps.

“A full bin approximately weighs about 200 pounds, 190 or so,” he said.

What started off as a pilot program has really taken off, and is being extended through the end of this year. To date, the group has collected about 54,000 pounds of food waste in less than a year. If it wasn’t for the bins, all of it would end up in a landfill in Poughkeepsie, worsening New York’s climate crisis.

“It’s exciting that we’ve been able to collect so much waste, and divert it from the incinerator to this point,” said Stamatis, co-chair of the Beacon Compost Working Group. “This program gives residents a real way to feel like they’re making impact on climate change.”

Community members include a mom who stopped by after dropping off her son to school.

“Well, it’s very convenient,” she said.

Right now, the waste goes to a sanitation facility in Westchester, where it’s processed to become soil for gardeners.

“In Beacon, we want to be a leader in the environmental sustainability programs. Many communities in Putnam County and Westchester have reached out to us very recently to learn of our statistics, as well as what we’ve learned through the pilot, mistakes, benefits,” Stamatis said. “I’ve shared our data with the county to see if we can get a feasibility study or a processing facility through the county level as well as the state level.”

Faye Leone is helping the earth one family dinner at a time. She’s the Climate Smart Communities Coordinator in Beacon, and was going through an inspection at another composting site.

“I’m just checking to see how full they are. Make sure there’s still room,” Leone said. “Also, I’m curious if there’s anything in here that shouldn’t be in here, but it all looks amazing!”

Leone says she’s thrilled to see so many people undeterred by the aftermath of a snowstorm, committed to reducing their impact on the planet.

“It’s changing your day-to-day habits. It gives you something you can do about climate change, just in your kitchen,” she said. “And then your kids get in that habit, and then we’re having a bigger impact on emissions.”

And, they’ll compost just about anything, as long as you ate it or it was alive.

“Great advantage of drop-off location here, is that we’re actually able to process meat, bones, dairy, fish, on top of all the other material, which … those materials shouldn’t belong in your backyard bin,” Stamatis said.

Stamatis says Beacon is barely scratching the surface. His group plans to work with restaurants on Main Street and school cafeterias to make composting more accessible. Eventually, they want to offer curbside pick-up of food scraps as well.