December 2019 Advocacy Update

Colorado Chapter Proposed Legislation Being Introduced

The Colorado Composting Council (COCC) has spent much of the year working on a bill that will require multiple studies looking at composting infrastructure and end markets (with a special focus on the agricultural sector) as well as a statewide organics management plan to promote compost use. This was proposed to and approved by the Zero Waste Interim Committee at the state legislature.

The committee selected their proposed bill to go forward and the chapter is ready to advocate for the bill, called the Concerning the Development of a Statewide Organics Management Plan to Promote Compost Use.

Maryland: New Compost Legislation on the Horizon

The MD-DC Compost Council and other compost-watchers in the state are anticipating two models, in the form of bills, to be introduced in the upcoming General Assembly session that opens in January.

Both are modeled after organic waste bans in place in the Northeast. They involve mileage radiuses or minimums of food scrap generation by weight that require commercial separation if a facility is within that radius or tonnage meets the required volume. The MD-DC group is working to combine aspects of both into a bill that it can support.

North Carolina: Revised Regulations Completed with USCC Certification Required

The North Carolina Division of Waste Management (DWM) announced in November that it has readopted updated compost rules after conducting a review of the existing Compost Rules in the NC administrative code (last written in May 1996).

Included in the updated regulations is a requirement for training integrating the USCC’s Certification program: “persons who have achieved and maintain compost operator certification by the US Composting Council Certification Commission or equivalent shall be considered as having met the training requirements in G.S. 130A-309.25 for the permitted facility.” North Carolina is one of the first states to include such a requirement.

For the past year, the state has conducted stakeholder meetings and a rules review process that included input from public comments received during rule readoption. The new rules became effective November 1, 2019.