Nahant to prohibit landscapers from adding to compost pile

NAHANT – Starting next July, the town will suspend commercial landscapers’ use of the town compost site in an effort to shrink the pile.Town Administrator Andy Bisignani said the decision, which selectmen approved unanimously at their Sept. 13 meeting, came after the state Department of Environmental Protection mandated in the spring that the town correct violations at the compost site.Bisignani said the compost pile is so high it’s beginning to encroach on the wetlands beside it.Bisignani said Friday that prohibiting the landscapers from adding to the pile “should make some difference. It should slow down the addition of material until we can get the site better organized. They have an awful lot of material.”Bisignani added the public works department is already moving the entire pile back from a ditch that’s being made to separate the pile from the wetlands, but there is already more than 10,000 cubic yards.”And that’s a conservative estimate,” he said.The composting site is used by the town residents and the DPW to dump yard waste in addition to the four landscaping companies, three of which are Locke’s Landscaping, Richard Melanson Landscaping and Hatfield Lawn Care.The companies could not be reached for comment Friday.The landscapers will be suspended from dumping at the compost site beginning July 1, 2013. Bisignani said it’s unclear how long it will take to move or decrease the pile.In a letter to the landscapers dated Sept. 18, Timothy Lowe, the superintendent of public works, writes that “once the town has met the requirements of the DEP-approved order of conditions, this policy will be reviewed.”In the meantime, Bisignani said the town has been trying get rid of the dirt any way it can “as long as it’s legitimate.”Individuals or organizations that need fill may obtain it free as long as they contact Bisignani for permission. The compost site is open for residents to dump waste and take soil on Saturdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].