The screening equipment, tasked with sifting the garbage and debris from the compost, was delivered on this past Earth Day 2025 at the Valparaiso Compost Site. 聽Just shy of $300,000, this significant purchase was made possible through a $100,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Community Recycling Grant Program. The screen is the first of its kind for the Recycling District, and its impact has been immediate.
“Residents were requesting a better compost product and complaining about the garbage that they were taking home to their flower beds and gardens,鈥� Operations Manager Steve Dolak said. The new machine addressed this concern with its first load of material being screened.
Once material is loaded into the chute, a conveyor system transfers the product into the screen and a rotating drum equipped with half-inch screens sifts compost slowly from the chute. Dolak said. “The fine compost falls through and goes one way, while the unwanted material goes to a separate pile the other way.” Contaminants such as dog toys, food wrappers, concrete chunks, acorns, walnuts and even parts of lawn mowers are filtered out and removed from the compost.
The machine has made an instantaneous difference in the product quality. “You can put your hands in this soil amendment and feel how fluffy and 鈥楨arthy鈥� the material is,” said Keri Marrs Barr蠈n, Executive Director, Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County. 聽鈥淲ith the debris removed, residents feel much better about using compost in their gardens,” Marrs Barr蠈n said.
Although the equipment has only been operational for only a few weeks, demand for the screened compost has surged dramatically since the machine arrived. Within just one week of processing the first batch of material, a pilot pile more than 12 feet high was completely depleted by eager residents. “We had a huge pile, and it was gone in a week,鈥� Dolak said. 鈥淩esidents are coming nonstop.”
As the District has purchased the trommel screen, the goal is to move the machinery to the other Porter County compost sites and provide a cleaner product for the residents of the county.聽The District鈥檚 compost is created from the residential leaves and grass brought in by the municipalities and community residents. 聽“When you clean your yard, think about what garbage is randomly found on the street,” Dolak said. “Whatever is on the curb ends up in the compost pile. A cleaner input means a cleaner output for everyone.”