On February 4th, 2026, Brenda Platt, director of the Composting for Community Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), was awarded the prestigious Jerome Goldstein Lifetime Achievement Award by the US Composting Council. The award recognizes an individual who has achieved excellence and made significant contributions over 25+ years in their professional career to the field of environmental stewardship and natural resource sustainability. Only four other individuals have received this honor since the award was created in 2016. Brenda is the first woman to receive this award.
May 2026 will mark Brenda’s 40th anniversary with ILSR. Her passion for promoting waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting over the last four decades has cemented her as the nation’s leading advocate for and expert on local and decentralized composting — a process that composts locally-sourced food scraps and other organics, distributes the compost locally, and engages the community in the process. From her own home composting bin, to the 400+ organizational members of ILSR’s Community Composter Coalition, to state and local lawmakers, the imprint of Brenda’s influence on this sector is undeniable.
Brenda Platt remarked while accepting the awardIt’s a privilege to work in a field that is not only cutting waste but also is building healthy soils, vibrant communities, creating jobs, protecting the climate, fostering community connections, and fostering community power.
Her groundbreaking research on record-setting communities helped institutionalize curbside recycling, including yard trimmings composting programs. In the 1990s, she was the first to demonstrate that beyond 25 percent recycling was possible, followed by 40 percent and then 50 percent. Brenda wrote the first national Zero Waste agenda for action and was an early voice for Zero Waste planning. Brenda also helped ILSR become a pioneer in connecting recycling with local economic development opportunities and jobs. Her research comparing landfill and incinerator jobs with materials recovery jobs put real numbers behind the vision. Over many years, she documented jobs through electronics reuse, pallet repair, textiles recycling, recycled paper mills, recyclables sorting, composting, and more. Closing the loop locally has guided Brenda in all of her work.
In addition to her impressive portfolio of research, Brenda writes legislation and advocates for composting and food waste diversion at all levels of government, has chaired and co-chaired committees for the US Composting Council (USCC) and other organizations, and communicates the benefits of local and decentralized alternatives to disposal throughout all her work. Some perceive the work that Brenda does as exclusively grassroots because she works with and helps empower communities to divert organics, mitigate climate change, and grow healthy food. But grassroots action is only one tool in Brenda’s toolbox. She is an industry changemaker who laid foundational groundwork and has since dedicated her career to growing the composting movement.
This award is a well-deserved and natural manifestation of Brenda’s professional achievements and dedication to the composting and zero-waste movement.
Community composters and allies showcased community composting as a force of innovation in the broader composting industry at CCC26.
A participatory event on how to advocate for local ordinances to support distributed composting featuring real-life examples.
Brenda Platt was awarded the prestigious Jerome Goldstein Lifetime Achievement Award by the US Composting Council.
A report providing guidance for municipalities to support and partner with local composting initiatives, meeting their composting targets while fostering myriad economic and cross-sectoral benefits.