High Acres is home to an organics and yard waste composting diversion facility. On average 1,000,000 lbs./year of food waste from three local universities, St. John Fisher, Nazareth College, and the University of Rochester is collected from their dining halls and brought to High Acres for composting.
About 30,000,000 lbs./year of yard waste is diverted from the landfill for composting or upcycling into mulch. The finished compost is given back to residents of Perinton, as well as other municipalities in the area. The wood chips are useful to build trails or use in landscape applications. The leaf and brush are turned into a finished product that acts as a nice soil enhancement material to promote vegetative growth.
This give-back program is made available to Perinton residents as part of our ongoing yard waste recycling program. All Perinton residents’ tree, leaf, and yard debris are collected weekly by Perinton highway crews and managed by WM for reusable purposes.
Each year, High Acres has approximately 15,000 bags of food waste compost bagged for distribution to residents in the community. A unique and informative design for the bag was also created that further enhanced the give-back program. As part of our giveback program with the Town of Perinton, every Spring, and Fall, High Acres will supply the Town of Perinton with our homegrown compost and woodchips for Perinton residents to use for different landscaping applications. Making this material available for reuse saves landfill space and provides a valuable commodity for residents and the community. The program will return and continue through the fall of 2022.