By Matthew McCully
Since 2013, the bulk of the municipalities in the Memphremagog MRC have joined in on the third wave of waste collection, participating in composting programs for organic matter. To make it easy for residents in Potton, the town introduced small kitchen bins and mini compostable starch bags to collect organic scraps to put into brown bins outside. Five years into the program, Town Manager Thierry Roger was excited to learn that Cowansville was opening up a new compost treatment plant, scheduled to enter into operation in the fall. The town had previously been sending its collected compost to Coaticook. According to Roger, the reduced transportation costs of going to Cowansville instead of Coaticook would represent savings for citizens, who currently pay a tariff of around $146 per household for waste collection. Unfortunately, Roger was told that the new Cowansville facility would not accept compost gathered in the starch bags that citizens have grown accustomed to using over the past five years. See full story in the Tuesday, August 14 edition of The Record.