Spring is just around the corner, and I hope that you are all prepared for another robust sales season. All indicators point to back-to-back record years for compost product sales. Here are some helpful tips to think about incorporating in your sales and marketing plan this spring. 

• International Compost Awareness Week - Please plan your activities now!
• Be sure to share our compost use videos from the USCC YouTube channel on your social media outlets.
• Post your ordering instructions and COVID protocol for customers to see.
• Make sure your employees have the required COVID PPE on hand when dealing with the public.
• Make your USCC Membership and STA Participant certificates are visible to the public.
• Have copies your latest STA Certified Compost® Compost Technical Data Sheet available to hand out or post.

Please take some time now to participate in the Victory Garden Marketing Campaign. This is a great marketing campaign that we put together last year that is still pertinent for this year's marketing of compost products. There are some great resources to share with your customers and prospects.

We urge you to help us tell the Compost Story this spring. You know that it is a compelling story, but your community may not know about all the wonderful the benefits, from water conservation and water quality, to climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, to feeding necessary nutrients to the microbes in the soil. Invest some time now this spring in telling your audience about the endless benefits our product, and you will get a return on your investment. Hope you all have a great spring sales season!

Congratulations to Amy Freeman, this year's USCC Volunteer of the Year!

This is a new award to recognize US Composting Council or Composting Research and Education Foundation volunteers who have contributed significant amounts of time, expertise or effort on behalf of the organization. Our winner will be announced as part of the Virtual COMPOST2021 Awards, and in person at the COMPOST2022 Awards in Austin, TX.

Amy of Clarkston, MI, is chair of the Compost Research and Education Foundation's International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW); she is currently mentoring three young professionals, and serves as a chapter leader for Michigan in the USCC Chapters program. She has spent years volunteering at the USCC's annual conference, where she has also served as volunteer lead for the USCC store; and consistently participates in Young Professionals volunteer projects.

Thank you, Amy!

We want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who joined us for our 29th Annual Conference and Tradeshow! It was wonderful to have so many supporters and friends together in one place. With more than 600 attendees, we can definitely say it was the most successful virtual event we've ever hosted.

During the week of January 26-27, 2021, we wrapped up our first ever VIRTUAL COMPOST2021 Conference. In a time where the conversation on compost is more important than ever, we are so grateful to all of our attendees, sponsors, presenters and partners whose compounded efforts brought this virtual conference experience to life! We spent three days learning, growing and connecting with the people that make compost happen all around the world.

International perspectives were offered by compost and organics recycling program leaders from around the world. Three concurrent tracks offered a total of 15 sessions with industry leading speakers from a variety of areas of expertise. Our exhibit halls offered a chance for attendees to learn about products and services from dozens of international companies. Networking events and virtual happy hours brought hundreds of like-minded individuals together for unscripted connections. Virtual tours of Rexius Forest Products and the Shakopee Sioux Organics Recycling Facility gave us a glimpse of facilities that we are unable to tour during an in person-conference.

We cannot wait to be back with you in person in 2022. Please leave us your email address here to be among the first to know about COMPOST2022.

We owe a huge thank you to our Headline Sponsor Ecoverse, our Diamond Sponsor Komptech Americas, and our Gold Sponsor WeCare Denali. Thank you to all of the companies who sponsored and exhibited at VIRTUAL COMPOST2021.

And a special thank you to GREEN FERN EVENTS, who made the conference possible. We could not have done this without your support and leadership.

Thank you to the USCC Board of Directors whose constant support and leadership has navigated the Council through these difficult times. See you all in 2022!

This year's Member Meeting was held January 26 at VIRTUAL COMPOST2021 - Sharing Local Solutions Globally, hosted by New Board Chair Brian Fleury and USCC Executive Director Frank Franciosi. Watch the recording here.

The USCC is supporting bills in Maryland to require commercial generators of more than two tons of organic residuals to reduce, rescue, compost or digest those residuals beginning January 2023 provided there is a compost facility within 30 miles of their location. The bills waiver provisions.

Also in Maryland, the USCC is supporting legislation that would prohibit homeowners associations from restricting composting on private property and condominiums from prohibiting the use of common space by residents for compostable collection services. Visit this page to see USCC’s comments.

Lauren O’Connor and Karen Moore of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation briefed the USCC Legislative and Environmental Affairs Committee at its January meeting on upcoming proposed revisions to the state’s composting/yard waste rule, which will open for comment later this year. To watch for updates, see this page: https://floridadep.gov/OrganicsRecycling.

Greg McCarron, PE, BS - Environmental Engineering: Greg has 35 years of experience in all aspects of solid waste management, including composting and solid waste management plans. He is SCS’ national expert for organics management projects. We design, permit, construct, and operate compost and anaerobic digestion systems and facilities for public and private clients. His experience includes operations, project management, design, permitting, regulatory support, construction oversight, system start-up, economic analysis, and technology assessment. Outside of work, Greg is the Compost Team Leader for a community garden in Bergen County, New Jersey. The garden produces about 1500 pounds of produce annually, which is 100% donated to soup kitchens in Newark and New York City. He is also manages a backyard compost system for use in his own garden.

"Why I pursued certification?”

I wanted to be recognized for the training and education that I have completed through the leading industry associations, the USCC and CREF. Often, public and private entities require certification or qualifications that prove my expertise, prior to engagement on their projects. The training is also helpful as I train other community composters.

The USCC is clarifying Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) Program procedures as we continue to improve and grow participation. We have recently upgraded our STA map and list. Now anyone can see your STA products and derivative products listed under each of your STA facilities. Specifiers and participating laboratories will more easily be able to see which products are in the STA program, and which are not. Often multiple products are enrolled by one company, and with the new website we now show more clearly what is enrolled.

For STA participants, please ensure when you submit your chain of custody form with your product sample to the laboratory, that the product name on the form matches what you have enrolled in STA, which is reflected on our webpage. The labs will not be able to give you test results on STA-branded Compost Technical Data Sheet (CTDS) paperwork if these product names do not match.

If you have any concerns or need clarifications, want to add products or correct your STA registration, please contact STA Program Manager Hilary Nichols.

Twenty-two people representing 11 USCC State Chapters learned about Virtual Events and Webinars For Profit & Engagement from three experts in the field at a training held only for Chapter leaders on January 26 at USCC’s annual conference. Speakers were Carolyn Thompson, Training Systems Inc., who focused on goal-setting and platforms; Becky Migas of Women in Sustainability, who spoke about pre-meeting logistics and marketing; and Ed Rigsbee, Rigsbee Research, who specialized in on-screen engagement. The names of chapter leaders who attended will be kept as a record for when USCC has its Learning Management System (an online training platform) live, where we will host a Chapter Academy with online modules for leaders to attend.

Thank you for Chapter Training Committee members Ginny Black of MNCC and Shawn Bruckman of COCC, who helped organize the training, as well as Shawn who was the moderator.

The Chapters program could use additional members of the training committee to help develop more learning tools and a possible Chapter Training Track at COMPOST2022 in January in Austin, TX. If interested, contact Linda Norris-Waldt, chapter relations director. You must be in an existing chapter to volunteer for the committee. To see more about chapters, visit www.compostingcouncil.org/statechapters.

For the third consecutive year, World Centric is proud to be named #17 of 150 Top Impact Companies for 2021. This award by Real Leaders, the world’s first sustainable business and leadership magazine dedicated to inspiring better leaders for a better world, recognizes leading social impact businesses around the globe. Other 2021 award winners include game-changers such as Beyond Meat, Miyoko’s, change.org, and dozens of other well-known brands.

The EDGE SM186 mobile screen is a highly efficient screening solution designed for the most difficult and demanding of applications including recycling, soils, aggregates, compost and demolition waste.

Signature features include:

• Robust interchangeable 18’X6’ (5.4X1.75m) 2 deck screen.
• Modular design screen box for easy media replacement.
• Intelligent modular top deck system.
• A low level direct feed hopper facilitates loading via wheel loaders.
• Fully mobile fifth wheel hook-up.

Nearly a year ago spread of the novel coronavirus shuttered the Compost Operations Training Course (COTC) for all of 2020. However, the industry’s need for training doesn’t stop. To meet the continuing demand, the Foundation created a new three-day course, the Compost Manufacturing: Principles & Practices (CM:PP). The course pilot, taught with the assistance of the New Jersey Composting Council last fall, was offered as a hybrid of socially distanced, in-person instructions while also being livestreamed to other students. 

The new course still provides a solid foundation of the compost production process, but group oriented, hands-on activities have been removed to ensure student safety. Those seeking to obtain their USCC Certified Compost Operations Manager (CCOM) or start their Certified Composting Professional (CCP) certification should opt into the self-driven facilities’ tour on the third day. 

For anyone interested in refreshing or expanding their compost knowledge, the Foundation and the Colorado Composting Council have partnered to offer the CM:PP in March 16-18, 2021. The two day lectures will be livestream only with a self-driven tour of facilities in North East Colorado scheduled for day three.

For California composters, a CM:PP is being planned for late March with the Association of Compost Producers that focuses on issues and regulations specific to the state. For more information on either training opportunity, visit https://www.compostfoundation.org/Education/COTC.

The Compost Research & Education Foundation (CREF) is offering scholarships to undergraduate through PhD students studying at a college or university in the US interested in doing compost-related research projects. The scholarship is for $4,000, and also includes an invitation to present research findings at a US Composting Council Annual Conference during a CREF research session.

The goal of this scholarship is to bring assistance to students doing compost-related research and to spark interest in future careers in the composting industry.

The ideal candidates will have an interest in improving the compost process, for example the type of projects will be looking at such things as the application and the utilization of finished compost to increase drought tolerance, soil nutrient content, reducing erosion and water pollution, and increasing carbon storage in soils to combat climate change.

The application period starts February 15-April 16. Applications can be submitted online here: https://www.compostfoundation.org/Research/College-Scholarships.