The Pittston-area composting facility is up and running with six area communities as partners and another as an occasional user.
Thousands of pounds of yard waste have been processed since the facility opened in July and a final compost pickup date for 2012 will be announced soon, said Stanley Knick Jr., chairman of Dupont Borough Council and chairman of the Pittston Area Composting Committee.
The site is modeled after the successful facility in Wright Twp., which serves Wright and Fairview townships.
Three-plus acres off Gardner Road in Dupont have been fenced, and the communities hope to have a shed and shelter in place soon to protect equipment from winter weather. Additional land is available for future use.
A $461,000 grant from the state gambling proceeds fund was used to buy a waste grinder, front-end loader and water buffalo. The grinder, at $220,000, was the largest expenditure. Fencing came in at $19,000.
Mr. Knick said the compost is free to residents of the member communities. A $10 fee is charged if compost site workers use the loader to assist residents.
"The cooperation of all communities has helped advance this project," Mr. Knick said. "We are pleased with where we are at this time."
Communities fully involved are Pittston city, Avoca, Duryea, Dupont and Hughestown boroughs and Jenkins Twp. Yatesville borough does not regularly collect yard waste but it uses the site for occasional drop-offs.
Pittston Twp. was invited to participate but it has declined.
For many years, yard waste has been disposed of in many ways in the Pittston area and other communities in Luzerne County. The methods have included use of coal land pits, fields, woodlands or combining such waste with garbage pickups. The latter procedure adds to the cost of tipping fees at landfills.
Earth Conservancy, the land reclamation agency begun in the 1990s by former Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, has a composting site near Glen Lyon in Newport Twp. Many communities take advantage of that site and gardeners and others use the compost to nurture vegetable and fruit plants.
Three West Side communities - Kingston, Exeter and West Wyoming - and Jackson Twp. in the Back Mountain share a waste grinder in a regional composting commission.