USCC Releases White Paper on Financing Mechanisms for Growing Composting Industry

A new USCC white paper released today identifies grant funding and other financing mechanisms for the growing U.S. compost manufacturing industry and makes recommendations for entrepreneurs and policymakers on expanding and using these methods.

"Financing Industrial Composting Facilities: Challenges and Opportunities” outlines equity, debt financing, grants, public-private partnerships, bonds and new types of funding to give compost manufacturing businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs a blueprint for financing options. Interviews with compost business owners are included for insights on best practices.

The paper includes recommendations to the compost industry and policymakers for ways to ease the barriers to entry through various financing arrangements, as well as appendices that detail pros and cons of the various financing methods and the current state of state government landfill charges and other sources of funding for waste, composting and recycling planning and the five states – Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and South Dakota – with active grant programs for compost development in 2021.

The paper was written by Laurel Cohen, a master’s degree candidate in environmental economics at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. "Many policymakers, bankers, and other stakeholders could benefit from learning more about the business model and financing options that make industrial composting possible," she said of her research. "I'm encouraged to see the growth of composting in states that offer grant programs for compost entrepreneurs, and the emergence of new funding avenues like Green Banks and Outcomes-Based Financing."

The Executive Summary, which includes tables summarizing the pros and cons and state funding landscape, can be downloaded at www.compostingcouncil.org/growyourcompostbusiness.

Cohen will present her findings on January 26 at COMPOST2022, the industry’s national conference, in Austin, TX, in the compost business track. See www.compostconference.com/2022-program.