In Part 2 of our Government Support for Community Composting webinar series, you will hear directly from food scrap collectors. Micro haulers and community-scale composters need government support to sustain their business models. How can you position your company to win a municipal contract? How can you get access to public land for your activities? How might you convince local government to support your business over large-sized operations? If you relate to these questions, join this webinar to hear directly from food scrap collectors and composters who have secured some type of private-public partnership. If you represent local government, attend this event to learn how to directly support local food scrap recovery businesses.
The live webinar took place on June 8th, 2022
Watch the Recording
This webinar is one in a series the Institute for Local Self-Reliance offers to support a distributed and diverse composting infrastructure that includes community-sized and on-farm composting. To view and listen to our library of past composting-related webinar recordings, click HERE.
PRESENTERS
Andrew Brousseau – Compost Manager Andrew Brousseau is the Compost Manager at Black Earth Compost, founded in January 2011. Andrew joined Black Earth as Massachusetts was implementing its ban on wasted food going to landfills and incinerators. Andrew will share Black Earth Compost’s public-private partnership experience and varying approaches with several Massachusetts towns. Andrew holds a BS from UMass Amherst and worked as a software developer and oceanographer before joining Black Earth Compost.
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Eileen Banyra – Founder & President Community Compost Co. is a women-owned business based in the Hudson Valley, founded in 2013. Eileen is a lifelong environmentalist and city planner by profession. She has worked in both public and private sector planning providing land use and zoning guidance to both rural communities and cities throughout northern New Jersey. Eileen will share her experience winning contracts with the cities of Hoboken and Jersey City and a few other communities. She currently serves on the Board of the US Composting Council.
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Jeremy Brosowsky – Founder/CEO Jeremy started Compost Cab in March 2010. Today the company provides residential and commercial pickup service for food scraps, and operates one of the largest farmers markets’ food scrap collection programs in North America under a contract with the DC Department of Public Works.
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Ben Parry – CEO Compost Crew was founded in 2011 in Montgomery County, Maryland. Ben took over as CEO in 2018; before that, he worked for more than a decade in the solar industry. The company has now grown to serve thousands of clients in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. In 2022, the US Composting Council awarded Compost Crew its Organics Diversion Program of the Year Award. Ben will discuss the company’s many municipal contracts.
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Justen Garrity – President Justen started Veteran Compost in 2010, composting on a 30-acre farm in Aberdeen, Maryland. Operations have since expanded to another site in northern Virginia and a second site in Maryland. He has a BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Penn State University. Justen has several contracts with local governments to operate drop-off programs including Annapolis, Baltimore, and Havre de Grace in Maryland, and Falls Church in Virginia. |
MODERATOR
 Brenda Platt – Director, Composting for Community Initiative, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), Washington, DC
Brenda and her team at ILSR are supporting community-scale composters via forums, webinars, podcasts, guides, policies, training, and more. In 2017, the US Composting Council awarded her its H. Clark Gregory Award for outstanding service to the composting industry through grassroots efforts. In 2019, BioCycle magazine featured Brenda as one of its organics recycling trailblazers. She has a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The George Washington University. |
