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 From the Top of the Pile
Hear from the USCC's own Associate Director Cary Oshins and Frederick Michel Jr. from Ohio State University Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, on the science behind the contamination and the fight to protect compost. A special thanks to McGill Compost for sponsoring this webinar.
USCC NEWSBoard Members Election This is the Official Ballot for the election of new members to the 2021 US Composting Council Board of Directors. There are three (3) Composter positions and four (4) Affiliate positions (all 3-year terms) up for election. These Board positions are critical to the management and direction of the USCC. They are YOUR representatives within our organization and YOU elect them to office. *To vote you must be a Basic level member or above in good standing, and only one vote is allowed per member company or organization (individuals are non-voting members). Votes will be tabulated by midnight October 14theastern time. All candidates will be notified of the results and the winners will be posted on the USCC website. Please review the candidates' responses to the nomination questionnaire about qualifications and interests. Simply click the link next to their name.You must vote for three (3) Compost Manufacturers and four (4) Affiliates in order for your vote to be counted! Bylaws Vote The USCC periodicly updates its Bylaws. The US Composting Council Board of Directors has approved the attached changes to the USCC's Bylaws for your review and vote. Links to vote on candidates for the Board of Directors and Bylaws have been sent out to the official contact. If you have not recieved this link and beleave you are the point of contact for your organization please email ehudiburg@compostingcouncil.org * To vote you must be the official contact of an organizational member in good standing, and only one vote is allowed per member company or organization (individuals and students are non-voting members). 
ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY BRIEFSOne of the top priorities of the 2019-22 Strategic Plan is to define, identify, focus and strategize the future USCC Advocacy Plan. The USCC Advocacy Definition Survey, which had a return of 19% of USCC member entities, indicates a preference by members for focusing on state regulators and legislators with proactive legislation such as organics bans and requirements for compost use. The survey showed a high willingness and capability of members for grassroots advocacy. Thank you to everyone who participated. The survey results can be found here. Following up on the survey results, a member Task Force will be making recommendations on USCC strategies and a focus group will be organized in order to gain further insights. Members of the focus group are Ryan Cooper (Rubicon), representing Membership Committee; Natasha Duarte (Composting Association of Vermont), representing LEAC; and Dan Matsch (EcoCycle), representing Chapters. If you answered the survey by name, you may be contacted about the Focus Group.
“Distinguishing between compostable and non-compostable items is extremely difficult for many composters,” said Frank Franciosi, Executive Director of the USCC. “These new guidelines will help compost manufacturers by reducing the amount of contamination entering their facilities, and should boost confidence in accepting food scraps mixed with certified compostable packaging.” Read the guidelines here.
COMPOST USE
USCC’s products & services directory, The Compost Pages, now has equipment and consulting services, if you are in need! Categories like collection software, events organics management, facility engineering and operations assessments, legal services and regulatory compliance have been added in the new consultants section. If you are a member, equipment, or services representative and are not in the directory, check your profile by logging in and scrolling down to see if you have the Directory checkoff option. If not, email Linda Norris-Waldt for information. This is the 2020-21 beta version of the directory; a more robust version will be added in 2021-22 with opportunities for advertising, logos and other added value listings! Caterpillar Benefit – If wheel loaders and skid steers are on your shopping list, don’t forget that Caterpillar offers special discounts to USCC members on these kinds of purchases. See the Member Portal Page for info! Member Benefits
From now until October 14, only USCC members can access super early bird pricing for Virtual COMPOST 2021 Sharing Local Solutions Globally. This online conference will not be the same as our in-person conference, but it will bring our compost family together – from attendee to exhibitor to speaker to young professional. Enjoy this powerful new venue for networking and education at an affordable price. "The US Composting Council is adapting to the needs of our time. Bringing a compost family together for our annual conference is essential to the mission of the USCC. We must keep the organics recycling momentum rolling into 2021. We need your support and attendance now more than ever. The entire Council is excited to be able to host Virtual COMPOST2021 Sharing Local Solutions Globally. Join us January 26 & 27, 2021.” – Frank Franciosi, Executive Director
Learn more about the Virtual Tradeshow; information and pricing can be found here.
This short article will help guide any Master account holder on how to find their sub accounts, know how many they have, update them, and register them for events.
To start, what is a USCC master account and how is that different from a sub account?
In our system each organization has what is called the “master account holder.” This person is the one who receives important communications from us, including renewal invoices. They are considered the main contact for the USCC, and is the contact who will receive your renewal bill each year, which is a key thing to keep in mind when deciding who is the best person to have listed in that position.
Membership levels Bronze or above can have one or more additional people on your account or “sub-accounts” as they are called in the system. These people are coworkers who need to have access to all membership items for education as well as communication purposes, they are also the folks who can also receive the member discount on our various programs and events.
How do I find the Sub-accounts for my company?
MEMBER NEWS
Organizations John Bentley, Conestoga Manufacturing dba Earth & Turf Products Individuals Susanna Baker NatureWorks, the world’s leading manufacturer of low-carbon PLA biomaterials, announced a slate of manufacturing technology projects, including lactide monomer purification efficiency, that will increase the availability of the full Ingeo™️ (PLA) biomaterials portfolio by 10 percent. Installation is currently underway at NatureWorks’ facility in Blair, Nebraska, the world’s first and largest commercial-scale PLA manufacturing plant. The projects will be completed by the end of 2021.
The expanded availability will support growth in markets that demand sustainable, low-carbon materials and require the high-performance attributes that Ingeo is uniquely suited to deliver. These markets include 3D printing and nonwoven hygiene masks as well as compostable coffee capsules, teabags, and coated-paper food serviceware.
Atlas Organics (Atlas), a leading commercial composting company seeking to increase municipal waste-solution partnerships across the U.S., today announced the launch of the organization's public-private partnership (PPP) with Indian River County (IRC) to provide composting management including processing yard trimmings. The company has also appointed Heidi Segona to head their business development for the IRC facility, bringing the total to over 10 employees at its Vero Beach, Florida, operations headquarters
Compost Mechanics is both a science lesson and a primer in home composting. It is the first in the Food Too Good to Waste video series. This video is an excellent primer about the science of composting, covering the basics of a backyard compost operation and the plethora of microorganisms involved in the composting process to the mixture of nitrogen and carbon. NJ Composting Council is preparing for their second Organics Recycling Summit – Summit 2.0! We will be holding the summit virtually on November 19. It will be divided into two sessions: the first from 8:30am-12:30 p.m. with three panels and a virtual networking session. The second session will be from 2:30-4:30 p.m. with two concurrent courses on backyard/composting basics and municipal/community composting program. The panels will focus on 1) NJ Municipal Composting; 2) Advocacy and Policy of composting/the new food waste bill; and, 3) The Future/Innovation of Organics Waste Recycling. Do you have a topic that you would like to share with our audience? Now is the time to get in touch! Please provide us with a proposed topic by no later than 3 p.m. October 16. Email us at contact@njcomposting.com with your ideas. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
However, to ensure eligibility, equipment needs to be purchased, financed or leased between January 1st and December 31st, 2020, and must be delivered by midnight on December 31, 2020. Rotochopper West Coast has new, refurbished and used grinding equipment in stock and ready to go to work at your jobsite! To take advantage of Section 179 tax breaks, consult your tax advisor to make sure you qualify, then give Rotochopper a call to discuss the right Rotochopper for your grinding operation.
The expansion of the facility, which was established in 1994, is a public partnership between USCC member Freestate Farms and USCC member Prince William County. Under an agreement, Freestate Farms, which has operated the facility since 2015, financed and expanded the operation without using any county funding. Prince William County will pay Freestate Farms to turn its organic waste into high-quality compost and sell it. CREF NEWS
Analysis of Applying Compost to Aid Product Marketing. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop individual “use sheets,” explaining the ROI for specific compost applications to help educate the market on the economic benefits of applying compost. After receiving a number of excellent proposals from an RFP, Ron Alexander, of Ron Alexander Associates, was chosen to do the work. CCREF is able to do this project because of the amazing generosity from so many companies and individuals at COMPOST 2020 who donated during the conference to help CCREF grow its research.
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. For the past year, CCREF Trustees have been working with Bob Rynk, Editor of The On-Farm Handbook, to get his new book, tentatively titled The Compost Handbook, ready to be published. This new version will encompass a wider variety of feed stocks and contain a great deal more information and detail than the original. Working with Bob, CCREF assisted in finding the publisher, Elsevier, and has a dedicated group to reviewing and editing each chapter. The book will be submitted to Elsevier for publication this November. While the exact publication date is not available, it will be sometime in the second or third quarter of 2021. IN THE HEADLINESSource: Fayetteville Flyer
The city’s Recycling and Trash Collection Division this week was awarded a $73,870 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help start a new mobile food waste collection unit and composting education program.
Upcoming Events
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In the summer of 2020, the USCC led the charge to petition the USEPA to reregulate Clopyralid, Picloram and Aminopyralid. After receiving incident reports from compost manufacturers and end users, the USCC led the Get the PH out of our Compost campaign.
The Biodegradable Products Institute has released guidelines for the labeling and identification of compostable products.
Exhibitors: Virtual COMPOST2021 will offer an engaging virtual exhibit hall. With a free-flowing 3D experience, attendees will be able to interact with your company organically through video chat, text windows, and scheduled appointments. Virtual COMPOST2021 will have designated times for networking each day.
Don’t miss the opportunity to maximize your profits! By utilizing the 
An expansion at the Balls Ford Road Composting Facility has nearly tripled its capacity to produce compost. In addition to yard waste, the facility can recycle food waste using state-of-the-art equipment and processes.
In September, work was started on a new CCREF research project: Return on Investment (ROI)
In a short period of time, due to the scheduled COTC in NJ having to be cancelled because of COVID-19, Cary Oshins and Bob Rynk were able to develop a two-day training, Compost Manufacturing: Principles and Practices. Topics covered during the training included: benefits of composting and compost use, compost qualities, uses and markets, basic principles of composting, composting methods, processing operations and equipment, facility siting and design, managing contamination, regulations, and environmental protection and more. The training was held September 15 & 16 in Elizabeth, New Jersey (and was also offered via live-stream) and included an optional third day of touring three local facilities. Based on the feedback, this new training was a big success. Thank you to the New Jersey Composting Council for hosting this event and to the many members who jumped in to help pull together this event so quickly.
