Yard Waste Dropoff & Composting

Yard Waste Dropoff Site (Tyngsborough Residents Only)

Bryant Lane between Town Hall and Middlesex Rd.

Open from April - 2nd Saturday of December

Due to unpaved road, site will be closed during heavy rain or snow events.

Items that can can be dropped off::

Shrubbery
Leaves
Branches/Sticks (any size and no need to bundle)
Grass Clippings

Prohibited Items:

Any items not listed above including
- Plastic bags
- Plant posts
- Rocks
- Food waste

Improper use of the site may result in changes to site access, and illegal dumping including textiles, trash, appliances, mattresses, or anything other than yard waste may result in prosecution. The site is under 24-hour surveillance. Contractors or commercial entities are prohibited from using the site and action will be taken against violators.

Signs at the site will direct you to where to dump your yard waste. Drive to the end of the driveway and dump yard waste in the area indicated by signs and cones.

Yard waste may be dumped from any type of container or left in paper leaf bags. No items should be left in anything other than paper bags. If transporting the yard waste via plastic bag or barrel, please dump it directly onto the ground. Signs will point you to where to leave the yard waste. Your cooperation in keeping the site orderly is appreciated.

For residents who don't have a car/trailer capable of transporting yard waste, there are several alternatives including:

Mow leaves into your lawn as fertilizer (preferred option and keeps your lawn healthy!)
Compost leaves/brush on-site on one's own property (if possible) - home composters can be purchased at the Health Department at a discounted price of $35.
Ask a friend, family member or neighbor to borrow a vehicle or trailer
Daily trailer rentals are available at several local moving and equipment rental companies

The Town will connect volunteers who are willing to transport leaves/brush on behalf of seniors or disabled neighbors who need assistance transporting their yard waste to the drop-off site. (This is not a yard clean-up service, only transportation from curbside to the drop-off site). Please email the Town Manager's Office or call 978-743-5337 if you need assistance or are willing to help a neighbor in need.

Composting

Composting is a controlled process of decomposition of organic material. Naturally occurring soil organisms recycle nitrogen, potash, phosphorus, and other plant nutrients as they convert the material into humus.

Backyard or Curbside Food Waste Composting

Compost bins for do-it-yourself backyard composting are available at the Board of Health Office at a subsidized price of $35.
Curbside collection is available (for a fee) by contacting Black Earth or Bootstrap Compost
Please contact the Board of Health at 978-649-2300, ext. 118 for more information.
How to Assemble the New Age Composter

Benefits of Composting

Composting is a convenient, beneficial and inexpensive way to handle your organic waste and help the environment. Composting:

Reduces the volume of garbage requiring disposal
Saves money for you and your community in reduced soil purchases and reduced local disposal costs and
Enriches the soil. Using compost adds essential nutrients, improves soil structure, which allows better root growth, and increases moisture and nutrient retention in the soil. Plants love compost!

What You Should Compost

Yard wastes such as leaves, grass clippings, and weeds make excellent compost. Fruit and vegetable scraps, plus food wastes such as coffee grounds, tea bags, and eggshells can be composted. To keep animals and odors out of your pile, do not add meat, bones, fatty food wastes (such as cheese, grease, and oils), dog and cat litter, and diseased plants. Do not add invasive weeds and weeds that have gone to seed to the pile. Elements of a good compost pile With these principles in mind, you can convert your organic wastes into resources by turning your spoils into soil.

The Biodegraders

Nature has provided an army of workers who specialize in decomposing organic material. These "critters" - bacteria, fungi, molds, earthworms, insects and other soil organisms - eat all types of organic material and in the process convert nutrients into a form plants can utilize. Without those compost critters, we would be surrounded by mountains of leaves and the soil would be barren. The process of composting is simply a matter of providing the soil organisms with food, water, and oxygen. They do the rest.

Organic Material

Organic material contains varying amounts of carbon and nitrogen which nourish the organisms naturally present in your compost pile. (Billions of bacteria inhabit the surface of every leaf and blade of grass in your yard.) The critters need both carbon and nitrogen. An easy way to provide both of these is to remember that brown, woody materials, such as autumn leaves, are high in carbon while green, moist materials, such as grass clippings, are high in nitrogen.

Alternating layers of brown and green materials will yield finished compost in three to eight months. Leaves alone break down in six to 15 months. Grass clippings or food scraps composted alone result in unpleasant odors because they contain more nitrogen than the compost organisms can use. Layer leaves or straw with green material, or let it dry until it turns brown before composting it alone.

How to Make a Compost Pile

There are as many different ways to make compost as there are people who do it. The following guidelines will get you started, but soon your own experience will help you tailor a method that best fits your needs.

Build or purchase a compost bin from the Board of Health Office in Town Hall, or your local garden center or home store. Enclosed compost piles keep out pests, hold heat and moisture in, and have a neat appearance. Or, bins can be simply made of wire, wood, pallets, concrete blocks, even garbage cans with drainage holes drilled in them. In urban areas, rodent-resistant compost bins - having a secure cover and floor and openings no wider than one-half inch - must be used.
Set up the bin in a convenient, shady area with good drainage. A pile that is about three feet square and three feet high will help maintain the heat generated by the composting organisms throughout the winter. Although a smaller pile may not retain heat, it will compost.
Start the pile with a layer of coarse material such as corn stalks to build in air passages. Add alternating layers of "brown" and "green" materials with a shovelful of soil on top of each layer. Shredding leaves or running over them with a lawn mower will shorten the composting time. Be sure to bury food scraps in the center of the pile.

Add water as you build the pile if the materials are dry.
As time goes on, keep oxygen available to the compost critters by fluffing the pile with a hoe or compost-turning tool each time you add material. A complete turning of the pile - so the top becomes the bottom - in spring and fall should result in finished compost within a year. More frequent turning will shorten the composting time.

How to Use Compost

When the composted materials look like rich, brown soil, it is ready to use. Apply one-half to three inches of finished compost and mix it in with the top four inches of soil about one month before planting. Compost can be applied as a top dressing in the garden throughout the summer. Compost is excellent for reseeding lawns, and it can be spread one-quarter inch deep over the entire lawn to rejuvenate the turf. To make potting soil, mix equal parts compost, sand, and loam. You may put the compost through a sieve to remove large particles - these can go back into the pile.

Air & Moisture

The compost critters need oxygen, just as we do. Lack of oxygen will slow down the composting process and cause odors. Turn your pile, fluff it with a hoe or compost turning tool, or build air passages into the pile with cornstalks to provide oxygen to the organisms.

Compost organisms need a moist environment. The pile should be as damp as a wrung-out sponge, but not dripping wet. Make sure leaves are damp when you add them to the compost pile because they will not break down if they are dry. Since moisture evaporates as the pile heats up (a sign of active composting), let rain and snow replace it, or add water during dry spells. A cover helps retain moisture in hot weather.

Mulching

Grass clippings, leaves, and woody yard wastes can be used as mulch in gardens and around shrubs to keep the soil moist, control weed growth and add nutrients. Woody materials should be chipped or shredded. Use a mulch of pine needles around acid-loving plants. Leaves will work first as mulch, then as a soil enricher as they decompose. Grass clippings should be dried before using as mulch. Do not mulch with grass clippings which have been treated with herbicides; composting them first, however, will break down the herbicides.

Composting Without a Yard

Composting can be done indoors using an earthworm farm. Not only can you recycle your food scraps, you can also have a steady supply of fishing bait! See MassDEP's vermicomposting page.

For more information contact the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection or call 617-292-5500.