Important Compost Conversation & Raising Funds for Legislative Action

USCC’s first Compost Operations Happy Hour of the year centered on PFAS (perfluoroakyl substances) and compost, and it raised $1,576 to match an anonymous donor’s contribution to support legislative work on the issue.

These Happy Hours are informal roundtables on compost subjects that often attract a small group that can chat freely in the virtual "meeting” format. But as soon as word got out that the speakers—Noel Lyons (McGill Compost), Andrew Carpenter (Northern Tilth) and Neil Edgar (California Compost Coalition)—would be taking about PFAS, registration shot up quickly to more than 100 people! These three individuals are on our PFAS Task Force guiding USCC action, lobbying and response to this issue.  A recording of this Happy Hour meeting can be found below.

The Legislative Action Fund is used to pay the cost of USCC’s endeavors to persuade state and federal lawmakers and regulators on issues that are of importance to the compost industry. The current "ask” is for funding for the next lobbying visit in April to Capitol Hill to ask for significant research funding in the Farm Bill or other vehicles to be conducted by third party universities through the USDA on:

a)   Plant uptake of PFAS chemicals on crops like leafy greens, grasses and others that routinely benefit from compost application. Additionally, our theory is that existing soils share in the ubiquitous existence of PFAS coming from rain and air, and research would prove a) base level contamination already exists, b) plant uptake in affected plants may be minimal (no research yet has quantified this for compost in general)

Having this data would make it easier for USCC, composters, and other allies to disprove the assumption that dangerous levels are transmitted through compost. Note that ALL compost feedstocks are affected by this issue!

b)   Innovative compounds, such as biochar, that may be able to bind PFAS into soil to ameliorate any leaching from compost application.

This data would provide confidence to farmers who have become increasingly interested in using compost on range and cropland to sequester carbon and increase organic matter.

If these research priorities are important to you, please consider donating here: https://www.compostingcouncil.org/donations/donate.asp?id=22365. Donations of all sizes are critical.