In 2010, the Shelburne Falls-Buckland central business district began a Composting Program intended to divert compostable waste away from the traditional solid waste stream.  This effort was seen to provide both environmental and economic benefits to the participating businesses and to the community at large in reducing waste volumes bound for landfills, providing raw materials needed to produce valuable compost, and in reducing waste disposal costs.  Compostable materials are collected in a special dumpster which is hauled to Martin’s Farm in Greenfield to be processed into compost at for reuse in local farms and gardens. The compost produced helps create a "closed loop system" through its use at local farms that, in turn, serve downtown restaurants, and for the enriching soils on the Bridge of Flowers, among other benefits.

Thanks to the efforts of the participating businesses to make the central business district more sustainable, the Composting Program has received a state grant to assess the Program’s current performance.  In winning the grant funding, the Shelburne Falls Composting Program stood out as an innovative approach to promoting the downtown business area. The grant also seeks to determine ways that the Program can be further highlighted to promote the identity of the Shelburne Falls area as a sustainable community and eco-tourism destination.

 

In assessing the Composting Program as part of the grant, it has become apparent that the Program’s participating businesses need to be officially acknowledged for their efforts. To that end, the Shelburne Falls Area Business Association (SFABA) now seeks to create a logo design to identify participating businesses. The logo will be prominently displayed in prominent locations such as stickers at business entrances and storefront windows, as well as in printed and web-based promotional media, including restaurant menus and individual and Shelburne Falls websites. 

 

The participating businesses are primarily food-related establishments including: Mo’s Fudge Factor, Mocha Mayas, Café Martin, West End Pub, and Blue Rock Restaurant. These businesses provide food scraps, other organic wastes and paper wastes for collection in a compostables dumpster located behind the Blue Rock Restaurant.   Two other businesses, Mirick Insurance and Trailside Health, provide only paper waste. 

 

 

The design criteria for the logo contest are as follows:

 

1.      The logo shall be easily understandable at a scale of ½ inch square. The logo design shall be provided at three different scales.

2.      The logo shall read and be provided in black and white. No color or gray scale elements shall be included in the design.

3.      The logo design shall incorporate the text “Shelburne Falls Composting Initiative.”  

4.      The logo design shall incorporate a sense of place without using the iconic bridge of flowers image.

5.      Incorporation of the closed loop system provided by the compost program shall be looked upon favorably.