The Sullivan County Department of Solid Waste & Recycling, under the county’s Division of Public Works, manages all municipal solid waste in Sullivan County. In 2024 alone, residents, businesses and visitors generated over 100,000 tons of solid waste.

To meet the growing needs of the community and address environmental concerns, the department is actively exploring alternative disposal options. With landfills across New York State nearing capacity, it’s more important than ever for Sullivan County to reduce its waste stream. Residents are encouraged to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost to divert waste from landfills.

In 2019, Sullivan County partnered with a consulting firm to develop an organics management plan. The goal: divert food and yard waste, the organic component of the waste stream, from landfills. 

Reducing organic waste not only decreases landfill volume but also significantly cuts greenhouse gas emissions.

This project was partially funded by the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program, part of Title 15 of the Environmental Protection Fund through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). Funding covered both the plan’s development and implementation of Phase 1.

As part of the planning process, a waste analysis revealed that 24.4 percent of Sullivan County’s municipal solid waste is compostable. To address this, the plan recommended:

Phase 1: Establishing drop-off locations for residents, due to the limited curbside collection in the county.

Phase 2: Creating a commercial composting facility.

Phase 1 of the Organics Management Plan focused on residential food-scrap collection. Known as the Food Scrap Recycling Program, the pilot launched in October 2023. Four hundred residential starter kits were purchased and distributed throughout the county in 2023 and 2024. The NYSDEC-permitted five transfer stations, which are conveniently located throughout the county, collect food scraps; the transfer stations are located in Monticello, Ferndale, Highland, Mamakating and Rockland. Each site is equipped with two 64-gallon collection bins for food scraps.

Transfer station operators monitor the drop-off bins to ensure only food scraps are collected. Common contaminants that are not allowed in the program include plastic bags, compostable bags and paper products. 

Until Phase 2 of the plan is implemented, Sullivan County is partnering with Community Compost Company in Kerhonkson, NY. Each week, county transfer station operators transport the collected food scraps to the composting facility, where they are turned into nutrient-rich compost.

Phase 2 of the Organics Management Plan involves building a commercial composting facility at the Monticello Transfer Station. The county is currently seeking funding to bring this phase to life; it will allow food scraps to be processed locally, reducing transportation emissions and costs.

In the program’s first full year, Sullivan County collected 16.09 tons of food scraps. The county is on track to exceed that number in 2025.

If this is your first time hearing about the Food Scrap Recycling Program, we encourage you to get involved! While the free starter kits have all been distributed, residents can still participate using their own collection containers.

For more information, contact Kassie Thelman, Sullivan County recycling coordinator at 845/807-0291 or recycling@sullivanny.gov.

Together, we can reduce waste and build a cleaner, greener Sullivan County.

Kassie Thelman is the recycling coordinator for the Sullivan County Department of Solid Waste and Recycling in the county’s Division of Public Works.