Target Organics is Now in Its Second Phase!

The program is aimed at developing tools and strategies that U.S. municipalities can use to begin or expand organics collection in their communities.

The USCC’s Target Organics Committee has disseminated a survey - targeted at 2,000 municipalities - to USCC chapters, USCC members and national recycling and materials management leaders and organizations to further develop information gathered from the first phase of the survey completed in 2018. The survey, due November 20, can be found here.

“Our goal is to increase food and yard waste organics diversion across a myriad of jurisdictions in the U.S.,” said Sarah Martinez, co-chair of the committee. “By gathering input from municipalities on what they need to achieve this objective, the USCC will be able to more effectively tailor its communications, collateral, focus and programs.”

The Target Organics Committee will use input from the survey to identify and prioritize tools or other resources that the USCC could develop to support municipalities in their organics collection and processing efforts.

Phase 1 of the survey gathered information from municipalities on how they manage their solid waste streams and where they are in the process of planning and executing plans for the future. Some of the key takeaways were:

• 92% of respondents are looking to USCC for more help with program success and development, and 85% want USCC support to grow infrastructure
• 79% of respondents are not subject to a municipal landfill organics ban, and 56% are not subject to a state landfill organics ban 
• 70% of respondents want to increase composting capacity
• 45% say they are currently limited in their capacity to compost
• 68% say some private funding is necessary to increase capacity, and 57% of respondents say funding is a challenge 
• 67% of respondents have high interest in having composting programs
• 49% have community support for maintaining composting options

“The Target Organics Committee wants to gain a deeper level of insight on this issue of how to efficiently target organics diversion,” said Susan Thoman, co-chair of the Target Organics Committee. “Evidence from the first survey supports the need for the USCC to take on a more comprehensive role in expanding resources, connections [and] potential funding mechanisms and putting together a resource center outlining how best to utilize resources we have created with our partners.”

For information on the survey, linked here, contact Hilary Nichols, liaison for the Target Organics Committee.