Every Labor Day weekend, Garlic Town transforms Bennington, VT into a vibrant celebration of food, flavor, and community. This year, the event took a significant step forward in sustainability, diverting over two tons of food scraps from the waste stream through a coordinated composting effort. Casella elevated the day’s impact by donating all waste services, mobilizing volunteers, and implementing a streamlined operation that made waste diversion a visible and essential part of the festival experience.
The initiative was led by Casella’s own Joe Maguire, West Rutland, VT Hauling Division Manager, and Kelli Timbrook, Long Trail Composting Facility Site Manager, who worked closely with event organizers for months to plan logistics, deliver 25 food waste toters, and offer educational tours of the compost site. Inspired by Vermont’s organic waste regulations, organizers aimed for the complete diversion of food scraps from disposal.
“It was a team effort,” said Maguire. “From the vendors to the volunteers to our crew on the ground, everyone played a part in making Garlic Town a model for what sustainable local events can look like.”
Volunteers played a critical role, manually sorting waste into separate streams for trash, recycling, and compost. Thanks to outreach led by Marshall Knapp, all vendors committed to using 100 percent compostable products, resulting in virtually no municipal solid waste from the nearly 6,800 attendees.
At the event, Casella staff and volunteers fielded questions at waste stations, sparking conversations about composting and sustainability. The Bennington Solid Waste Committee supported the effort with an educational booth, helping those at the event understand the value of their discarded food.
Collected scraps were processed at the Long Trail Facility using aerated static piles, blended with wood chips and manure to produce nutrient-rich compost. After curing and screening, the finished product is sold or mixed into topsoil, completing the cycle from waste to resource.
“Large-scale events like Garlic Town are perfect touchpoints for community education,” said Timbrook. “We’re showing people that sustainability starts with small, local actions.”
The success of Garlic Town’s composting model is already inspiring interest in more sustainable practices at future town events, offering a promising example for other communities across Vermont.
Casella Waste Systems, Inc., headquartered in Rutland, Vermont, is one of the largest recyclers and most experienced fully integrated resource management companies in the Eastern United States. Founded in 1975 as a single truck collection service, Casella has grown its operations to provide solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to more than one million residential, commercial, municipal, institutional, and industrial customers and provides professional resource management services to over 10,000 customer locations in more than 40 states.
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