A food waste recovery project begun four years ago on the Vineyard is ramping up again after the pandemic interrupted the bulk of the collections. When restaurants and school cafeterias closed, the initiative lost the main source of the food scraps it turns into compost.

Island Grown Initiative's food recovery program has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A four-month pilot study, which began in June, may set the stage for an Islandwide composting program that could help businesses comply with the state’s ban on commercial food waste.

Every year, 40 per cent of the food grown in this country is never eaten. The waste happens in farm fields, during processing and transportation, in grocery stores, restaurants, and in our homes.

A state ban on commercial food waste has yet to be enforced, but Islanders have launched a comprehensive study of the issue.

Coffee grinds, apple cores and curly orange carrot peels: straight to the trash they go in most households. But on Island farms, these food scraps (along with egg shells, wilted greens and watermelon seeds) go to the compost. For the farmers, this trash is treasure.

“It’s like crop insurance,” explained Jim Athearn of Morning Glory Farm last week as he stepped down from his tractor.