The Solid Waste Alliance Communities (SWAC) and the Rutland County Solid Waste District (RCSWD) are co-sponsoring a Green Cone Sales.

With the costs of everything on the rise, we’re all looking for ways to trim expenses. One fairly easy step is to reduce the amount of garbage we each produce. At $2.00- $4.00 a bag, trash disposal costs can really add up each month. But you can cut that by about 20% simply by keeping food scraps out of the trash.

Composting them on-site is one great solution but, for those who don’t want to or can't manage a compost pile, the Green Cone food scrap digester offers another option. The Green Cone can handle all kitchen food scraps—including meat, fish, dairy, and bones. Once installed you simply open the lid, add food scraps, and close the lid. Half of the cone is buried in the ground where micro-organisms go to work digesting the material and releasing the nutrients directly into the soil. Unlike composting, no turning or special material combinations are required.

Green Cone users report they produce less trash—and have lower trashbills as well. Households who self-haul to a trash drop-off can instantly notice a savings and, without smellybags piling up, can also reduce the number of trips they make. Households with curbside pickup could save money by reducing the number of pickups they contract for. Green Cones can also be used in the winter, helping to keep costs down all year-round.

The environmental benefits of keeping food scraps out of the landfill also add up. Food scraps emit greenhouse gases as they decay in a landfill. But 1,000 homes using Green Cones would keep the equivalent of 1,900 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere annually. That’s the same as taking about 400 cars off the road each year!

The price for each cone is $76.85, including 6% VT sales tax.

Green Cones are available at the the Rutland County Solid Waste District Materials Recovery Facility, 1 Smith Road, off Greens Hill Lane, Rutland, Vermont. Contact the Rutland County Solid Waste District (www.rcswd.com), telephone 802-775-7209, or email: deanew@rcswd.com to purchase your Green Cone.

For additional information, photos, installation instructions, and tips, visit these webpages:

http://www.greencone.com/photos.asp
http://www.greencone.com/how_it_works.asp?prid=10
http://solarcone.net/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=28
http://solarcone.net/system/installation.php
http://solarcone.net/system/faq.php