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OCTOBER 31, 2019
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
Casella dedicates expansion to food waste Williston facility to be built to recycle unsold groceries By Jason Starr Observer staff
One challenge with food waste recycling is dealing with packaged, unsold items from grocery stores. Because it’s difficult to separate the packaging from the food, grocery stores currently throw most of those items in with their regular trash. As Act 148, a universal recycling law banning food scraps from landfills, reaches full implementation in 2020, the state’s waste managers are designing ways to help residents and businesses comply with the law. The largest waste management
operation in Vermont, Casella Waste Systems, received town approval this month to expand its Williston operation on Avenue B. The 6,000-square-foot expansion will be set up to de-package unsold grocery store items — for example, removing plastic wrap around heads of lettuce — and liquefy the food to be transported to an energy-producing anaerobic digester. The packaging will then be recycled, if possible, said Mike Casella of Casella Waste Systems. “If you look at grocery stores, there is a lot of food produced from there, but they are wrapped in cellophane or other packaging so they can’t be composted at a regular composting facility,” Casella said. “You have to separate the packaging from the food, and that’s what we will do.” see CASELLA page 3
WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Hunger Hike
Observer photos by Al Frey
Williston Central School students, teachers and parents participated in a ‘Hunger Hike’ last Thursday, walking through the Catamount Community Forest to raise awareness and funds to alleviate hunger in the community. Students created signs for the hike and raised about $1,000 to be donated to Hunger Free Vermont.
Resident dies in ATV rollover A Williston man was trapped under his all-terrain vehicle for several days after a roll-over accident near the French Hill Manor home where he lived. Timothy Brunelle Jr. was pronounced dead when he was found last Wednesday morning. Police believe the accident happened last Saturday. Williston Police and fire department personnel discovered Brunelle, 41, after his employer reported him missing Wednesday. An autopsy has not been completed. Sgt. Bart Chamberlain said Brunelle had successfully negotiated a steep ravine about 150 feet from his home, then fell about 4 feet into a dry river bed. There was no indication of excessive speed or recklessness, Chamberlain said. Brunelle had purchased the four-wheel ATV about two weeks earlier, according to police. “I believe he was an experienced ATV rider, just not on that particular one,” Chamberlain said. French Hill Manor is a dead-end spur off of Route 2 on the east end of town. The area around it is “rugged, wooded terrain,” Chamberlain said. “There are no trails or paths.” — Jason Starr
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