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 From the Top of the Pile
Linda Norris-Waldt, Director of Advocacy
The USCC praises the Biden administration’s strategy to achieve a 50% reduction goal in food loss & waste as a comprehensive plan that includes key needs of composters. We are also pleased to see strategies for increased funding, closure of data gaps in research, and expanding the marketing of compost as the end-product.
The new strategy has had a long road that began in 2015 when the USCC, the Natural Resource Defense Council and other partners were part of the announcement of the new strategy. The strategy was open for comment in fall 2023, at the same time the EPA released a long awaited revision to the food waste hierarchy. This new “Food Waste Scale” prioritized actions that prevent and divert wasted food from disposal. Tiers of the food waste scale highlight different pathways for preventing or managing wasted food in order, from most preferred to least preferred. We believe composting is the superior and most economical option for inedible food scraps.
USCC NEWS
Volunteers who serve on USCC committees are critical to the success of USCC's mission. Not only do you provide vital information and feedback about programs, projects, and issues from your perspective, but your service enables USCC staff to better understand your opinions and needs to shape our priorities. To learn more about all our committees, go to our committees page on our website for brief overviews, member lists, and additional resources.
We have four committees in particular that are actively looking for members. Click the button below to learn more.
Lead a conversation at COMPOST2025! The deadline is less than a month away to submit your speaker abstracts for our 2025 conference & tradeshow in Phoenix.
Decide from a variety of session formats to build your abstract around, from half- or full-day preconference workshops to roundtable discussions. Proposed presentations should be on topics relevant to compost collection, manufacturing, marketing or use and related professions. Case studies and research reports are welcome!
The deadline to submit speaker abstracts is July 8. For more information on how to structure your abstract(s) and how to apply, click the button below.
The USCC is stronger today than we have ever been, and the composting industry is stepping onto the national stage! The U.S. Senate recently passed the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, and, during the past year, USCC staff, board members, and members met with congressional offices and committees to request PFAS Superfund liability exemptions. For more than a year, the USCC’s lobbyist for these endeavors has been privately funded through generous special underwriting from a small number of members and drawing on the Council’s financial reserves. All the collective organizing, networking, advocacy, and developments in the compost industry are made possible by the tireless efforts of our volunteer committees, industry partners, staff, board members, and members like you! It is through our combined voices in the Compost Action Center, state chapters, committee meetings, and endeavors on Capitol Hill we can affect the necessary changes for our industry to flourish. Thank you for being a part of the membership of the USCC, and we are honored to be trusted with representing you! Renew Today
Compost is an art and a science, and the tools composters use range from the “squeeze test” for moisture to high-tech remote turning and temperature-measurement devices. As facilities continue to expand in number and size, scalability and data become more and more important. In this webinar, we will feature expert panelists who will speak on several topics: Remote monitoring systems used to capture temperature and other variables in compost piles, high-tech volume scanning equipment, and first-of-its-kind windrow technology. Featuring industry experts including Liv Johansson from Engineered Compost Systems, Isaac West from Loadscan, and Thomas Hoelscher from JT RecTec, this webinar offers a unique opportunity to engage directly with those at the forefront of composting equipment and technology.
The webinar takes place on Wednesday, June 26, at 2 p.m. EDT. Register today to secure your spot and join the conversation!
If you knew there was a free report that told you specifically how your organization could reach a bigger hiring pool, get pricing from more vendors, and market to a bigger audience of customers, wouldn't you jump on it? Here is your chance! In just one more month, we will release the results of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access Benchmarking Study, and your organization will get a customized recommendations report only if you participate!
This study takes about 10 minutes, is completely private and anonymous—USCC will only have access to the aggregate results—and asks about hiring practices, vendor policies, marketing outreach, and broad questions about the makeup of your workforce.
If you don't want to miss this opportunity to have key data to grow your organization's footprint in the industry, be sure to take the survey this month by clicking the button below!
*This study is sponsored by Better Earth, North Carolina Composting Council, Illinois Food Scrap and Composting Coalition, Resource Recycling Systems, Common Ground Compost, and Biodegradable Products Institute.
ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY BRIEFS
BOSTON, May 15, 2024 — In efforts to improve waste ban outreach and engagement with the state of Massachusetts’ diverse population, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has added translations of up to 10 languages for two of its waste ban factsheets.
The fact sheets, titled “What are the Massachusetts Waste Bans?” and “Property Managers & the Waste Bins,” now have translations in Arabic, Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese (simplified), French, Haitian Creole, Khmer, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
MassDEP has also provided translations in 11 languages of its Smart Recycling Guide for its Recycle Smart MA program, an education initiative developed in 2018 to educate state residents on what can and cannot be recycled.
Sign up to receive the USCC's Action Center text message alerts to stay informed and actively participate in shaping our industry's future. By signing up, you'll receive updates on urgent compost advocacy campaigns. These text alerts ensure you're always in the loop about critical issues and can act quickly to support beneficial policies and regulatory changes.
Text "USCC" to 52886 to join now or follow this link to set up your full email and text-based alerts.
The USCC, through its members and advocates, is reaching out to members of Congress eligible to join the Compost Caucus, created this spring by the bipartisan team of Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Julia Brownley (D-CA).
The Composting Caucus will serve as an informal group of members dedicated to supporting efforts to advance compost utilization and manufacturing, as well as organics recycling, collection, and education programs that lead to composting. “The USCC wants to work with caucus members to provide information about how compost and composting can grow local economies with vital green jobs, sequester carbon, and mitigate climate change impacts through composts’ ability to combat drought resilience, filter stormwater, and provide vital organic matter to amend healthy soil,” said USCC Executive Director Frank Franciosi.
To ask your representative to be part of the caucus, click on the button below.
COMPOST USE
Thank you to those who have renewed their STA participation for 2024-25. For those who have not renewed, make sure to pay off your renewal balance before Sunday, June 30.
For payments that require our W-9, click the following link to access our W-9 form.
Make sure to also renew your USCC membership before June 30. In addition to receiving a discount for your STA renewal, your membership renewal helps the USCC continue to advocate for the composting industry and provide our members with extensive information including a monthly newsletter, free webinars, and events and programs at discounted rates.
To renew your STA participation, click the button below.
MEMBER NEWS
USCC members may be receiving invitations to a project to assemble representatives of the compostable feedstock supply chain—from compost use to packaging resin—for a three-day strategic planning event in Denver in September.
The Steering Committee for the project, which includes the US Composting Council, Compost Manufacturing Alliance, and Biodegradable Products Institute, has brainstormed numerous thought leaders in these industries to spend three days building consensus on solutions to improve success in acceptance of compostable feedstock by compost manufacturers.
A green jobs reentry program for formerly incarcerated individuals, composting services for public housing residents, food sovereignty for Native families, and community education on composting as an environmental justice issue are just a few of the projects ILSR is funding through the BIPOC Community Composter Mini-Grant Program.
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is proud to announce the 10 awardees of the 2024 BIPOC Community Composter Mini-Grant Program. Recipient organizations include nonprofits, farms, community gardens, Native Nations, and educational institutions in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Projects are diverse in scale and operation but are united in their mission-driven, innovative approach to community improvement.
Clemson University Recycling Services earned an important regional honor for its work during football season, taking home a 2024 Carolina Recycling Association Award at the CRA’s annual conference in Cherokee, NC, on April 8-11.
The award, which recognizes new and creative ways to improve recycling and waste reduction in the Carolinas, highlighted the impressive work at Clemson’s October 7 football game against Wake Forest. As part of the Collegiate Race to Zero Waste Touchdown Challenge, fans were encouraged to dispose of waste in appropriate recycling receptacles around Memorial Stadium and leave recyclables in translucent bags for collection. More than 30 student volunteers helped collect and sort the next day, an effort that recycled over 10,000 pounds of material from the game. The group also determined their first-ever in-stadium diversion rate (waste that is diverted from landfill for recycling, compost or donated) topped 73%.
Agromin, the largest organics recycler in California and manufacturer of earth-friendly soil products and mulches, has a new location in Dixon, CA, open to the public and commercial landscapers. The site contains a variety of products including Agromin’s OMRI-Listed Compost 100, cover mulch, shredded decorative bark, decorative bark nuggets, amended topsoil and native soil mix.
“Cities and counties have ramped up their efforts to keep their green waste out of landfills to comply with California’s SB 1383,” says Bill Camarillo, Agromin CEO. “Jurisdictions are turning to organic recyclers to transform that green waste into compost and mulch and distribute it within their communities. We’re opening production and grinding sites around the state to keep up with the demand. We encourage landscapers to drop off their green waste and then pick up a truckload of compost or mulch.”
Michael Martinez, USCC board member and founder of LA Compost, was honored at the ILSR's 50-year anniversary celebration with the inaugural Composter Groundbreaker Award for his decades of work growing composting practices in L.A. County and beyond, establishing 38 community composting hubs, bringing the city government on as partners, and proving that community composting can be rooted in and serve the community.
RFPS AND PROPOSALSOPPORTUNITIES, JOBS AND GRANTS
Come elevate your leadership skills at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community as a yard supervisor at a composting facility! In this opportunity, you will work with our state-of-the-art equipment to support and supervise processes and operations at our large scale composting facility. If you are flexible and have the willingness to accommodate work schedule variations to meet product demands, we are looking for you! Enjoy weekly pay, career growth opportunities, and great employee perks. Whatever your career goals may be, let SMSC help get you there.
The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) solicits applications designed to increase the ability of EPA Region 3 states (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia) to manage food scraps more sustainably through composting. In particular, the NOFO seeks to increase capacity for food scraps composting in the region through the upgrade of yard waste composting facilities. The upgraded yard waste composting facilities will be capable of processing waste food, which increases the capacity for wasted food composting in the region. For further details, click the button below.
TOOLS & RESOURCES
The USCC has made significant changes to its Target Organics Hub website as it implements new marketing strategies to assist municipalities across the U.S. in developing their own composting programs and facilities to accept food scraps. This new marketing plan includes an increased online presence and greater collaboration with state chapters and USCC members.
In April, the USCC and the Target Organics Committee began developing a new strategic marketing plan, finalizing website corrections made by a committee of member experts and adding a new USCC staff liaison to assist in distributing responsibilities. The new marketing plan hopes to encourage increased collaboration with state chapters and USCC members in the hopes of providing greater visibility for municipalities who may be interested.
CREF NEWS
The scheduled date for the webinar on composting human remains has changed to July 11 at 1 p.m. EDT. Because there has been so much interest in this topic, CREF is holding a third webinar, this time focused on what lies ahead. The presenters will look at potential evolutions in the business model and process for natural organic reduction, the disposition of compost created, and broader religious and cultural implications. For more information on what the webinar will cover or to register, click the button below.
Many community composters are asked if they can take compostable products in their systems. Items such as compostable plates, utensils, bags, and take out containers are amongst the most highly requested items to be composted. Most of these items, however, are certified to compost in industrial facilities only and not in “backyard” composting systems. This has led many community composters to ask the question, “Will they break down in my pile?”
CREF received a grant from the 11th Hour Project for the Compostable Field Testing Program (CFTP), part of which includes creating a community composter field testing protocol for compostable products.
IN THE HEADLINES
PARK CITY, Utah, June 3, 2024 — Park City Community Foundation today announced the rollout of a new curbside food waste collection program as the first phase of its Zero Food Waste initiative. Working together with local government, nonprofits, businesses, and donors, the Community Foundation’s Climate Fund has created and financed the Zero Food Waste initiative after announcing the Zero Food Waste 2030 goal last year. This community-led movement will reduce and divert all food waste out of the Summit County landfill by 2030 to curb methane release and create a healthier community.
Nydia Gutierrez | Earthjustice
ALBANY, NY, May 13, 2024 — The New York State Legislature passed legislation to expand the state’s food donation and food scraps recycling program (S5331A Harckham/A5906A Shimsky). This bill will gradually scale down the annual average tonnage of food scrap generators that are required to join the program and expand coverage to food scrap generators within 50 miles of a food-waste recycling center. Earthjustice calculates that, when fully implemented, this legislation will ensure 99% of large food scrap generators outside of New York City will manage their waste in a sustainable and sensible way, increasing the amount of food waste recycled by 42%.
UBS Arena awarded for zero waste efforts, adds first zero waste partner in Collins Building Services
BELMONT PARK, NY, May 22, 2024 — UBS Arena has been awarded Silver certification under the TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) rating system. Administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), TRUE helps facilities measure, improve and recognize zero waste performance by encouraging the adoption of sustainable waste management and reduction practices, which contribute to positive environmental, health, and economic outcomes. The arena is also announcing in conjunction with this certification their first zero waste partner, Collins Building Services.
Tim O’Neill, Liv Johansson and William Meredith | BioCycle
EMMAUS, PA, May 20, 2024 — A study was conducted at the Engineered Compost Systems’ lab in 2023 to test the compostability of one of the most common bioplastics, polylactic acid, under controlled conditions. Bioplastics marketed as “compostable” are increasingly part of the feedstock mix at commercial composting facilities. Accepting certified compostable bioplastics can benefit a compost manufacturer when they facilitate increases in tip fee revenue, moisture, and nutrients attributable to food waste. Bioplastics that degrade outside of the standard time frames for composting can result in visual contamination of the final compost. In this study, the primary goal was to begin to characterize how specific measurable compost process conditions impact bioplastic degradation rates so facility designers and operators might use this data to improve the performance of these materials.
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