Last Summer, Maine welcomed almost 8 million people to enjoy this beautiful pocket of New England that we call home. To put that in perspective, our little town of York has around 14,000 year round residents, and that number increases to around 50,000 residents in the summer - a huge flux in seasonal traffic between locals and visitors. With bustling beaches and working waterfronts, where work and play meet the natural environment, it’s all the more important that we keep our home pristine.
Ecotourism is synonymous with responsible travel, sustains the well-being of local people, and focuses on minimizing environmental impact while maximizing community benefit. The goal is to reduce impact in any way possible, and at Crane Hotel Group, we are always operating with our ‘green foot forward’. In the hospitality industry, it’s also our responsibility to reduce the footprint of our guests as much as possible, and we do that by implementing a number of eco-efforts.
One way we are honing in on those efforts is by controlling our waste with composting. We recently had the pleasure of sitting down to talk composting and the importance of ecotourism with our good friend and partner, Director of Compost Operations & Growth for Mr. Fox Composting, Ashley Dawson.
Who is Mr. Fox Composting?
“What started as a curbside composting service for local residents and businesses has grown to become what we hope is a new community staple. To keep it simple, Mr. Fox believes that food waste shouldn’t have to end up in our landfill - we opt for composting. We believe that the future of our planet is dependent on all of us changing small, daily habits to reduce our environmental impact, and composting is one simple way to do that. We work with communities to streamline our service and make it as second-nature as possible.”
We’ve heard composting is, well, hot… What’s it like running an operation that is such a fine science?
“When that organic waste starts to react chemically, it can reach temperatures as high as 160° - hot and smelly! But 8 months later, brown gold. It’s very hands-on. Everything comes back to the yard for sorting and quality control, wind sifters separate the inevitable trash that can’t be composted. We turn piles every other week with a big front loader. It can be a dirty job of course.”
What does the composting program look like for those that sign up?
“We take it a step further than existing trash and recycling programs. It’s a full circle process upon sign up - we deliver compost bins, educate customers on how to compost, check-in regularly and offer training for businesses. We’ll eventually collect and bring all waste back to the yard, science does its thing, and we’re able to provide some of the best soil around back to our community. Your actual trash in the bin or dumpster will decrease by half, and it’s something you can feel great about!”
Ashley came to our properties last year to educate all of our teams on the composting program - and even flexed some Spanish speaking skills. It’s clear that she truly cares that it ‘sticks’ for businesses, and that we understand how simple it can be.
What is a success story from York’s composting program?
“The flower project we did with you guys at Lulu’s was a really cool success - to take the waste you’d been composting all year and grow pretty flowers, to then come back and decorate the restaurant with them - what a fun way to celebrate your efforts. We also donate compost to Kittery Land Trust, Four Patch Farm then grows the flowers, and I’ll go cut flowers every week to then deliver to businesses. The organic waste creates the most amazing, nutrient rich compost that’s also perfect for growing vegetables, so that’s really cool to see our product used to grow produce at local restaurants, schools, and homes.”
Can you share any other projects you’re working on?
“We try to donate and give back to the community whenever we can. Right now we are in the middle of our Spring Give Back, where every year, anyone who opts into the composting program gets a free bag of compost dropped at their house when we come to service their bin. Just a nice way of saying thank you and we appreciate your efforts.”
What exactly does the Director of Operations & Growth for a compost facility do?
“The big picture of commercial and residential growth still involves a lot of boots on the ground. Regularly meeting with people to explain or pitch our program, researching nearby businesses that I can pop in to. The operations side involves continuous education and ensuring our partners have the tools they need to successfully train their teams - getting someone to sign up is huge, but that’s really when the work kicks off. It’s constant and ongoing.”
And she means it - even during our discussion over coffee, Ashley noticed that the cafe we were at was once a partner and the wheels started turning - were they successful in their efforts? Did they have the tools and education they needed to compost with confidence?
“There’s an ebb and flow and sometimes it takes a little extra effort before the program clicks. Sometimes we see customers try, hit some speed bumps and not fully reach takeoff, stop the program, and eventually try again with new management or procedures. What’s working in our favor is that the York residents seem very open and willing to try composting, and that’s huge.”
It may come as a surprise that residential growth pretty significantly outpaces business adoption. As one of the few areas within reach of Mr. Fox’s services, businesses in York have some work to do in order to be on par with our neighbors.
“Seasonality definitely plays a role. With a lack of year round residents, many businesses will close down and thus cease their service with us for 6 months of the year, in worst cases they may not sign back up. You also have to imagine that visitors staying at a hotel, AirBnB, etc. are not composting while here.”
Neighboring towns are also ahead of the game in terms of their laws and regulations.
“In New Hampshire, entities generating a ton or more of food waste weekly are prohibited from disposing of it in a landfill if an alternative facility (like composting) is within 20 miles. Similarly, Massachusetts has a state-wide ban on the disposal of commercial organic waste, including food scraps, requiring businesses and institutions generating a half-ton or more weekly to divert these materials to composting/recycling.”
"If even half of businesses in the hospitality industry gave composting a chance, Maine would be a better place for all of us. We can attest that our partnership with Mr. Fox across all of our hotels and restaurants has been our favorite new best-practice, as well as something for our teams to take pride in.
“It’s a big deal to me. Getting back to basics - this is nothing new, composting has been around forever - we need to remember where we’ve come from and why” - and we couldn’t agree more.