Composting with ERICD
-
In Rhode Island, we only have one landfill. RI’s sole landfill is located in Johnston, RI and is predicted to reach its capacity in 2046. Once this landfill reaches capacity Rhode Islanders will have no options for in-state waste management.
It is estimated that upwards of 35% of all waste sent to the landfill is compostable and therefore can be diverted before entering the landfill. If Rhode Islanders start composting all of their food waste now we have the chance to extend the life of our landfill, which will save taxpayer dollars as well as help to replenish RI soil with compost in order to keep soils healthy and produce more food in-state. Composting is extreamly beneficial for longterm soil health. We are throwing away a very valuable resource when we send compostable materials to the landfill.
Additionally, as compostable materials break down in the landfill, they are not exposed to oxygen and therefore produce methane gas. Methane gas is an extremely potent greenhouse gas that stays in Earth’s atmosphere for longer than CO₂. When these materials are composted they do not produce methane and are able to breakdown without contributing to global worming.
Case Study In Connecticut - In 2026, CT has no active landfills to dispose of waste in state. CT has two options that they take advantage of for disposing of their trash.
The first option is burning. CT burns 60% of their annual waste at waste incinerator plants. These plants have extremely detrimental impacts on human and environmental health across the state. In RI we have laws that specifically prohibit the creation of waste incinerator plants, so this will not be an option for Rhode Islanders after our landfill reached its capacity.
The second option is shipping. CT ships 40% of their annual waste out of state to a few states that have operational landfills. Some of their waste is driven as far as Alabama to reach landfills that have the capacity to accept other state’s waste. CT taxpayers pay over $100,000,000 every year to ship just a small percentage of their trash out of state. In RI, we are looking at shipping 100% of our trash out of state bcause we do not have the option of waste incineration.
If RI can extend the life of the only landfill by even 5 years it would save RI taxpayers upwards of $500,000,000. Composting can help Rhode Islanders to make a difference for their communities and the whole state by saving money, adding beneficial nutrients to the soil, reducing methane gas released into the atmosphere, and saving space in the landfill for materials that cannot be composted or recycled.
-
Are you a year-round resident of Barrington? You have composting options!
ERICD has partnered with the town of Barrington and Black Earth Compost to launch the first ever municipal curbside compost pickup service in RI! This is a 2-year pilot program launching in Barrington on September 18th and will include weekly curbside food scrap collection at a deeply discounted rate.
Year 1 is 66% discounted - you pay $66.66 for the first year of this service. Year 2 is 33% discounted - you pay $133.33 for the second year of this service.
Additionally, if 500 Barrington residents sign up for this program there will be an additional density discount which will make this service even cheaper! So tell your friends and family members so sign up today!
Follow this link to learn more and sign up today!
Alternatively, if curbside food scrap pickup is not for you - Barrington Farm School has free food scrap drop offs for Barrington residents. You can drop off your food scraps at one of their two collection sites.
Site 1 is adjacent to their farm stand: you will see green toters where you drop in your food scraps.
Site 2 is located at the Kent Street tennis courts in the Hampden Meadows neighborhood: you will see green toters where you drop in your food scraps.
Follow this link to learn more!
https://barringtonfarmschool.org/community-composting-program/
-
ERICD has partnered with the town of Bristol and Black Earth Compost to launch the first ever municipal curbside compost pickup service in RI! This is a 2-year pilot program launching in Bristol on September 18th and will include weekly curbside food scrap collection at a deeply discounted rate.
Year 1 is 66% discounted - you pay $50 for the first year of this service.
Year 2 is 33% discounted - you pay $99.99 for the second year of this service.
Additionally, if 500 Bristol residents sign up for this program there will be an additional density discount which will make this service even cheaper! So tell your friends and family members so sign up today!
Follow this link to learn more and sign up today!
-
ERICD has partnered with the city of Newport and Black Earth Compost to launch the first ever municipal curbside compost pickup service in RI! This is a 2-year pilot program launching in Newport the week of October 5th and will include weekly curbside food scrap collection for FREE.
There are 1,500 spots available for Newport residents so tell your friends and neighbors to sign up for this incredible new free program.
Learn more and sign up today by following this link!
-
ERICD has partnered with the Rhode Island School Recycling Project (RISRP) whose mission is to get every school in Rhode Island composting their food scraps, recovering and sharing perfectly good “share table” food and reducing the amount of food students waste by 50% by 2030. This work is vital as it will extend the life of the landfill, provide food for food insecure families and reduce the extreme weather events caused by climate change.
RISRP’s program is already up and running in 80 schools across RI. We are partnering to get even more schools involved. In Newport and Bristol Counties.
For information and to get involved please contact, stella@easternriconservation.org
Follow this link to learn more about the great work that RISRP is doing in schools across the state!
ERICD Compost Success Stories
-
All three of the municipal composting programs are in full swing in Barrington, Bristol, and Newport.
As of April 1, 2026
Barrington has 338 residents signed up for the municipal curbside composting pilot program. Barrington residents began receiving curbside compost pickup on September 18, 2025. Since September, Barrington residents have diverted approximately 36.54 tons of food waste from going to the landfill. With this amount of diverted food waste from the landfill, ERICD approximates that the Town of Barrington should have seen savings around $2,302 in municipal trash tipping fees. This number is only expected to increase as the pilot continues and more residents sign up and start composting.
Bristol has 243 residents signed up for the municipal curbside composting pilot program. Bristol residents began receiving curbside compost pickup on September 18, 2025. Since September, Bristol residents have diverted approximately 25.23 tons of food waste from going to the landfill. With this amount of diverted food waste from the landfill, ERICD approximates that the Town of Bristol should have seen savings around $1,589 in municipal trash tipping fees. This number is only expected to increase as the pilot continues and more residents sign up and start composting.
Newport has 916 residents signed up for the municipal curbside composting pilot program. Newport residents began receiving curbside compost pickup on October 7th, 2025. Since October, Newport residents have diverted approximately 60 tons of food waste from going to the landfill. With this amount on diverted food waste from the landfill, ERICD approximates that the City of Newport should have seen savings around $3,793 in municipal trash tipping fees. This number is only expected to increase as the pilot continues and more residents sign up and start composting.
-
Aquidneck Elementary School - In December 2025, ERICD and RISRP teamed up to launch the Get Food Smart program. In just one week of the program, our waste audits showed a 98% reduction in landfill-bound waste from our baseline of 96.36 lbs of trash per day, down to just 2 lbs per day. Since the program’s launch in December, Aquidneck ES has diverted 2.8 tons of food waste from the landfill through composting and saved 1,089 lbs of good, healthy, edible food that has gone back to the community to get eaten.
Forest Avenue Elementary School - In March 2026, ERICD and RISRP teamed up to launch the Get Food Smart program. Just one week into the launch, our waste audit showed a 94% reduction in landfill-bound waste from our baseline of 91.5 lbs of trash per day, down to a mere 5 lbs. Since the program’s launch in March, Forest Ave. ES has diverted 1.4 tons of food waste from the landfill through composting and saved 666 lbs of good, healthy, edible food that has gone back to the community to be eaten.
-
Colt Andrews Elementary School - In January 2026, ERICD and RISRP teamed up to launch the Get Food Smart program. Just one week into the launch, our waste audits showed a 87% decrease in landfill-bound waste from our baseline of 60.5 lbs of trash per day, down to a mere 7.9 lbs. Since the program's launch in January, Cold Andrews ES has diverted 2.1 tons of food waste from the landfill through composting and saved 630 lbs of good, healthy, edible food that has gone back to the community to be eaten.
-
Hampden Meadows School - In March 2026, ERICD and RISRP teamed up to launch the Get Food Smart program. Just 3 days into the launch, our waste audit showed a 90% reduction in landfill-bound waste from our baseline of 69.4 lbs of trash per day, down to a mere 5.7 lbs. Since the program’s launch in March, Hampden Meadows has diverted 1.6 tons of food waste from the landfill through composting and saved 698 lbs of good, healthy, edible food that has gone back to the community to be eaten.
-
Clairborne Pell Elementary School - In October 2024, RISRP launched the Get Food Smart program. Since launching this program, Pell has diverted 29.8 tons of food waste from the landfill through composting and saved 5,096 lbs of good, healthy, edible food that has gone back to the community to be eaten.
ERICD is working to address climate change through composting programs with our partner 11th Hour Racing.
We are thrilled to partner with 11th Hour Racing in our effort to get the Ocean State composting! Check out the Ocean Lovers Guide to Compost!
Check out this video from our partner Black Earth Compost to see all the good work they are doing!