With an earthy whiff that might come from your imagination after reading a few chapters of Pearl Buck’s “Good Earth,” First Regional Compost Authority (FRCA) opened its main facility on Weaversville Road for a quick tour.

William Bedics runs the operation.

“This isn’t our only location. We have several satellite locations at the townships we serve,” he said.

FRCA primarily collects yard waste, such as leaves and grass clippings.

“These aren’t items that work well in landfills. Leaves can’t break down without a lot of oxygen. The volume of leaves is so high that they can’t get enough oxygen to break them down. They just accumulate. No one really wants to pick them up, so we filled a need,” he said.

Leaves and grass clippings clog up sewer systems, too.

“The leaves we are using today were from last year,” Bedics said.

Another mountain of leaves sits on the back of the yard from this year’s drop-offs.

“If you stop by on a weekend in May, we will have a hundred customers in here,” he said.

The process is interesting and somewhat akin to working a small compost pile in your backyard - but on a much larger scale. Bedics pointed to a pile about 300 feet long and 10 feet high, one of many at the site.

“That pile is a mix of about two-thirds leaves and one-third green,” he said.

With the pile steaming, he said, “The internal temperature starts about 145 degrees. We take readings, and when it gets around 100 degrees, we start to rotate it with our machines.”

The process takes about six months to become acceptable. Then, the pile is screened and chopped. The near-top soil mix gets stored again for another six months. The process continues year-round.

“With the piles that hot, we don’t get much snow buildup. We work through the winter with maybe a few days off,” he said.

“We serve about 60,000 residents. If it grows, we take it,” Bedics said.

The biggest problem is contaminates.

“We spend about 20 percent of our processing time pulling out contaminates from the pile,” he said.

The biggest offender is pressure-treated lumber. It is so widely used that no one considers it hazardous. Pressure-treated wood is classified hazardous waste. The chemicals used to add longevity to wood and keep insects at bay are the same chemicals working against the composting process. Other contaminates include concrete, glass and plastic.

“We don’t get much contaminates here at the main location. Most of the contaminates come from our unmanned locations in the boroughs and townships,” he said.

To get a better handle on where contaminates originate, the 40-yard dumpsters used to haul waste from satellite locations are color-coded by township, making it easier to identify where the problem occurs.

Bedics runs the operation out of his green Conex container on a budget around $300,000. The money is collected as a per-capita charge on the communities FRCA supports.

“We get about half of our budget from commercial customers. Without them, the per-capita rate would be too high,” he said.

Some smaller municipalities - North Catasauqua for one - are not full participating members but pay a tipping fee to drop off yard waste.

“We have a few landscapers [who] pick up compost, but most homeowners want colored mulch, so that goes mainly to residents,” Bedics said.

Residents do not pay for the compost or mulch, but there is a loading fee.

“We charge $15 to load, and the amount is limited. You can get three yards of mulch or a yard of compost,” he said.

The charge is levied only if FRCA loads your vehicle. There is no charge for dropping off yard waste. Grass clippings can be dropped off only at the main location on Weaversville Road.

FRCA municipalities include Allen, East Allen, Lehigh, Moore, Bushkill and Lower Nazareth townships; and Bath, Catasauqua and Northampton boroughs. The per-capita cost is included in garbage rates, except for East Allen Township, which issues permits. East Allen does not have a single-carrier refuse hauler.

The main location has summer hours from March 30 to Dec. 1. They revert to fewer open days during the winter schedule.

“We process compost seven days a week. Fall is our busiest time when all the leaves come in. People prune their trees now, so we get that waste,” Bedics said.

FRCA’s website, frcaweb.org, details the process and includes its rules.