CCREF was recently awarded a $15,000 grant from the EPA Region 3 for the project Increasing the Market for Compost for Green Infrastructure Applications in US EPA Region 3. The goal of this project is to engage state agencies using surveys, online trainings, other educational materials, and state-by-state meetings in Region 3 (encompassing the mid-Atlantic states) in order to understand and answer state agencies’ questions, identify barriers to compost use, to share information on compost utilization practices, and ultimately working towards helping state agencies create a plan to increase STA Certified Compost use, general compost use, and organics recycling from these high-volume compost users.
CCREF is working with the USCC on this project. The Market Development Coordinator for USCC, Hilary Nichols, will be the lead overseeing materials development and outreach to the different agencies within Region 3. Ultimately CCREF and the USCC plan to share lessons learned from this project with others across the country and to replicate this effort to increase the markets for compost for green infrastructure applications in other states.