SURRY, Maine — Every day, hundreds of pounds of food waste could end up in a landfill. Instead, Kate Tomkins, founder of Chickadee Compost in Surry, turns it into compost.

“We pick all those things up, and we bring it here, and we mix it with wood shavings and wood chips,” Tomkins said. “And after about a year, it’s ready to be sold as finished compost.”

According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, around a quarter of Maine’s trash is food waste—material that some environmentalists said could be composted instead of sent to landfills.

Officially licensed by the state in 2022, Chickadee Compost helps more than 200 households and more than a dozen businesses turn everyday food waste into something Tomkins said is more valuable for both nutrient-rich soil and the environment.

“We create something useful for local soil, which is notoriously poor around here,” she said. Last year, her company handled roughly 550,000 pounds of food waste through its composting services, keeping it out of landfills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Matt Saunders, who runs 1 Earth Composting in Hamden and partners with Chickadee, said composting gives food a second life.

“Compost is nature’s recycling process,” Saunders said. “When it goes to the landfill, it’s gone forever. You get into a trash heap—all this food gets locked up and all that garbage with all those contaminants. 

Mark King, an environmental specialist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said many communities are embracing composting for the value it returns to soil and the planet.

“One of the things that a lot of communities like to do is they like to divert their food scraps towards composting,” King said. “Then at the end, you have a valuable product that you can put into your soils.”

From leftover food to life, Tompkins said composting transforms waste into opportunity for communities and the planet.

“I’d love to see more composting happening all over the state,” she said. “Even in Hancock County, there’s so much potential for food waste diversion.”

Tompkins is currently running a pilot program in Ellsworth and hopes to expand it full-time by this summer.

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