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 From the Top of the Pile
By Frank Franciosi
In the 1980's I started out my business career as a territory sales manager at a chemical lawncare company. It has been over 30 years since then, and when I look back on my career I am so thrilled to have moved away from an industry that degraded the environment to now being a representative of a thriving industry that is actively seeking to repair our soils and limit our dependence on landfills.
My zeal for compost is stronger today than it was in 1993 when I started North Carolina's first source-separated organics composting facility. Each day that I get a chance to interact with any of our over 1,800 members, I am re-invigorated with the mission of the USCC to advance compost manufacturing, compost utilization, and organics recycling to benefit our members, society, and the environment.
USCC NEWS
The USCC’s Annual Conference and Tradeshow is the premier professional meeting for composting, organics recycling, and related topics. This year, the theme is Making Waves #COMPOST2024. We will be in sunny Daytona Florida, making waves with our newest state chapter. With a day of workshops and tours, two days of educational sessions, a massive exhibit hall, and a half day devoted to equipment demonstration, you will not want to miss this event. Registration will launch in September and the early bird & member rate will be the most affordable way to attend.
Save the Date – Feb. 6-9, 2024
Be a Sponsor at COMPOST2024
 Five seats are open for election to the 2024 Board, which is seated Jan. 1, 2024, for three-year terms for three Compost Manufacturers and two Affiliates.
The prospective nominee should review the “Board Member Roles and Responsibilities” and “Code of Ethics Policy” before submitting their nomination. Please submit via email to: nominations@compostingcouncil.org.
This application is the only way the official Nomination Form can be accepted. Upon receipt of your nomination, you will be asked to complete a short video introducing yourself and your goals for the industry.
Click here for more information about the Board, and please give serious consideration to running or nominating a peer.
Submission Deadline: Sept. 1, 2023
WEBINAR-Members Only
Thursday, Aug. 17 | 3:00 p.m. ET
We continue to hear in mass media about the impact of Perfluoroalkyl Substances (also known as “forever chemicals”) on the health, legislative/regulatory, and scientific fronts. Sometimes the truth is there, sometimes it is confusing or just plain misleading. Like the children’s game of telephone, information is repeated and passed along, and potentially distorted along the way.
USCC has tapped industry experts to provide tools for you to inform your customers, your employees and your community. Join us for this member-exclusive webinar on Thursday, Aug. 17 to go through the elements of the toolkit and learn how to effectively utilize them for your business or organization.
This webinar is free and will be recorded and placed on the Member Portal PFAS Response Toolkit web page that will go live on Aug. 17.
Several parts of the toolkit have been mailed to all STA participants and compost manufacturer members this month. If you would like a packet, email Linda Norris-Waldt at lnorriswaldt@compostingcouncil.org.
ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY BRIEFS
Left photo: USCC Board Member Lorrie Rossiter and employees of Sunshine Compost, a USCC member, toured Sunshine’s Jacksonville facility, which recently received a $4.9M USDA Fertilizer Grant, with Florida Representative Aaron Bean in August.
The USCC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Committee has some ambitious projects you will see unveiled over the next six months. The USCC Board of Directors has directed member funding to underwrite some of these, but others are a lift that require some matching grant funding and/or sponsorship.
USCC members have the opportunity to support our goal of an industry that is educating, training, and supporting composting employees and businesses that are outside our usual trajectories. (See the full DEIA program here.)
Neil Edgar, USCC board member and Chair of the Legislative and Environmental Affairs Committee, and Erin Levine have been tapped to serve on California’s EPR Producer Responsibility Board to advise the state on the forming of its extended producer responsibility program for packaging and paper. Edgar, who runs the California Composting Coalition/Edgar & Associates, will be representing compost manufacturers, and Levine, resource recovery manager for World Centric, will represent the compostable packaging industry.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Have you thought about your career path lately? Professional development hours, continuing education, certifications... There’s a lot to examine when considering the role you play in your company and within the composting industry.
This webinar will include an overview of USCC Certification options and taking steps toward becoming a CCOM or CCP, a virtual tour of the CompostU learning management system and how to utilize it for continuing education, a virtual tour of the USCC Career Center highlighting the powerful resources for jobseekers AND employers, and more!
COMPOST USE
 To grow and support the composter nationally, the STA program and its benefits webinar will be hosted by the Florida Composting Council in collaboration with the US Composting Council. It is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 24 at 1:00 p.m ET. The webinar is free of charge to encourage registration and help us expand the STA program in the Florida and the nation. To register for the webinar please click here. We are also looking for webinar sponsors! Please contact Heather Armstrong, the FLCC’s administrative support, at heather@recyclefloridatoday.org for more information. Learn more and register as an event sponsor via https://tinyurl.com/4dwsxz6u.
STATE CHAPTER NEWS
The 15 chapters of the US Composting Council (find them here) are critical to the success of composting across the United States. Their leaders and members are the face of composting for legislators and regulators. They hold events for education, networking, and compost facility tours so that the public and new compost advocates, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs can learn the regional landscape.
However, as volunteers (only a few chapters have paid staff) it is challenging to keep up with the work that is always waiting to be done. There are best practices to expand volunteer capacity (strategic planning, recruiting at events, succession planning). USCC has been providing training on these strategies, and many chapters are building momentum.
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
We’re teaming up with the USCC NC Composting Council on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 3:00 p.m. ET, as we plant the seeds of community growth and inspiration.
Let's come together to hear the remarkable stories and initiatives of the NC Composting Council that are nurturing Strong Community Roots across North Carolina.
📅 Date: Thursday, Sept. 7
⏰ Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
Meeting ID: 999 1045 3133
📞 Join via phone: +1 669 444 9171 US
💻 Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/99910453133
Stay ahead of the curve! 📆 Be sure to visit the USCC Community Calendar to stay in the loop with all the latest event updates, and to RSVP for upcoming gatherings. Click here to access the calendar, and don't forget to bookmark the page. By doing so, you'll always be on the forefront of exciting announcements and connected with the USCC Young Professionals community.
Embrace growth and connection through the USCC's Young Professionals Scholarship Program, open now through Sept. 29.
Each year, we grant five driven individuals a one-year USCC membership (valued at $170). In return, we ask that they devote at least 12 hours to a committee of choice during the scholarship year.
By joining our Slack, you'll have the opportunity to:
It's easy to get started! Simply click here to join our Slack community and start connecting with fellow Young Professionals today. MEMBER NEWS
Longtime USCC member and compost expert Ron Alexander, USCC’s representative on the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO), was awarded a Presidential Distinguished Service Award by that organization at its general meeting in Baltimore this month.
AAPFCO represents fertilizer, soil, and compost manufacturers, regulators, and government officials throughout the United States.
OPPORTUNITIES, JOBS AND GRANTS
The US Composting Council is a national organization serving the commercial compost industry since 1990. We are seeking an individual with passion for our customers, the environment, and data programs that are mission- and metric-driven, cost-effective with organizational impact, and serve as the keystone for good decisions in our organization.
We are looking for a candidate to be responsible for developing and maintaining USCC’s data and program platforms, prioritizing accuracy, security, and usefulness. Your impact on the rest of our team’s success will be substantial.
We need an energetic, team-oriented person to proactively manage our data assets to deliver on our mission of providing programs to our industry and membership. We are a family friendly, flexible, innovative, and impassioned group with options for hours and location, as well as growth within the organization.
CREF NEWS
Get your artistic juices flowing! The annual International Compost Awareness Week poster contest is starting Sept. 1. The deadline to submit a poster entry is Nov. 1. The design for the contest must highlight the 2024 theme: COMPOST…Nature’s Climate Champion!
This is an international contest and is open to anyone 14 years or older. There is also a video contest for ages 10-13. The winner of the poster contest will receive $500, and their design will be turned into the poster for 2024. The video contest winner will receive $100.
 CREF will be once again holding the two-part workshop, Conduct Your Own On-Site Compost Testing for Persistent Herbicides this fall. Led by Dr. Fred Michel and Daisy D’Angelo, these workshops will focus on compost producers’ need for a low-cost, reliable test for persistent herbicides (PH) in compost since laboratory testing for PH is very costly. During this 2-part workshop series held live on Zoom, attendees will learn how to use a bioassay kit to test multiple compost samples for PH. The kit uses garden peas and UV grow lights, includes spiked positive control and clean negative control media, and has a small footprint. Students will receive their kit prior to the first session. You must register by Aug. 30 to receive your kit on time. Class size is limited to 30 registrants.
The Cary Oshins Training Scholarship was started this year as a way to allow more people to benefit from attending a COTC. The next scholarships will be awarded for the upcoming training in Raleigh in September and then for the Texas COTC in October. CREF is still raising funds for this scholarship program in order to offer scholarships for all the upcoming trainings in 2023 and into 2024. To make a donation or to apply for a scholarship go HERE. IN THE HEADLINESSource: WasteDive
Denali Water Solutions recently secured an $18 million contract renewal with the New York City Department of Sanitation to operate three compost facilities, which include the 33-acre Staten Island Compost Facility on the former Fresh Kills Landfill as well as two smaller facilities in the Bronx and on Rikers Island. Source: Waste Today Magazine
The Environmental Sustainability Division of the city of Ventura, California, has worked with Oxnard, California-based Agromin to launch a new compost and mulch giveaway program designed to comply with state requirements for organics recycling by providing free compost and mulch to Ventura residents to use for gardening and landscaping. Upcoming Events
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The Seal of Testing Program was created in 2000 and is the consensus of many of the leading compost research scientists in the United States. There is no other compost testing program available to compost producers or compost buyers that provides this kind of information and confidence to consumers. Products in the program are tested year-round, and program participation is renewed annually to maintain the program participation status. To make the process seamless, the Gateway Portal was introduced in 2020. From the first step of the renewals to the last step of downloading the certificate, the process is automated. The real time website listing allows anyone to check the status of product participation in the program. STA Participants can access their data, STA Certificates on-demand, see the full history of results from Compost Technical Data Sheets (CTDS), download logos, access marketing materials, delegate permissions to other employees, and much more.
We are thrilled to highlight Tim Steckel as our YP of the Month! Tim is the founder of 
Akirah Hlatshwako is the first person to receive a Cary Oshins Training Scholarship, which enabled her to attend the recent Compost Operations Training Course (COTC), held in New Jersey. Akirah is from Newark, NJ, and with her husband runs the Ubuntu Permaculture Mission. 
