FARMINGTON — A demonstration and compost sale are planned for Sandy River Recycling Association’s public open house May 18 and 19 at the facility off the Dump Road.

A portable rotary screen will be in operation from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 18. The new product from Thomas Band Saw Mills in Brooks is used to put the finishing touches on compost in preparation for sale.

The Friday demonstration is geared not only to SRRA, which is looking to buy the screen, but also to statewide composting companies and dairy farmers also looking for the latest in small, efficient composting equipment.

Plans are to have the equipment work on SRRA’s raw compost pile Friday and to sell the screened compost on Saturday during the open house from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. SRRA Manager Ron Slater will give a talk on home composting and a tour of the facility.

For the past five years, Slater has given away tons of unscreened compost to local residents from SRRA’s pilot composting operation. Now SRRA is ratcheting up, with plans to expand its fledgling compost operation five fold and sell a screened product for a modest fee that will keep the operation “sustainable.”

The current small pile — about 100 tons — that Slater manages consists of food scraps from the University of Maine at Farmington’s dining hall and the lunch room at Mallett School and manure from the Farmington Fairgrounds. If plans go according to schedule, next year’s batch of compost will come from local grocers and restaurants, and it will be screened to perfection.

The event has been organized by Mark King, compost guru with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. For more information contact Ron Slater at 778-3254 and log onto www.thomasbandsawmills.com.