This Model Ordinance is a tool local governments can use to create a regulatory landscape that advances the establishment, operations, and achievements of community-based composters.
Local governments have a powerful role to play in the success of community composting. Laws and regulations can either uplift or significantly hinder the ability of community composting sites to operate, scale up, and divert organics from landfills or incinerators.
With food waste making up almost one quarter of municipal solid waste,1 supporting a distributed local composting network with good policy paves the way for local governments to save on waste disposal costs. Large waste companies profit off of every ton a community sends for disposal, and they don’t usually invest those dollars back into the community.2 By avoiding disposal costs for organics, local governments can foster a circular alternative that turns a wasted resource into local wealth. The many co-benefits that community composting offers — local jobs, resilient local soils, enhanced food security, and community engagement, to name a few — contribute to stronger and healthier local communities, both immediately and in the long run.
Download includes:
Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting (PDF)
Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting, With Commentaries (PDF)
Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting: Background Memorandum (PDF)
Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting: Presentation (PDF)
Model Ordinance Details and Use
Developed in partnership with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), this Model covers regulatory barrier reduction, government support for community composting, recommended best management practices, and equitable implementation. It can be adapted and adopted by any local government looking to foster an environment where community composting can thrive.
Accompanying the model policy language is a version with detailed commentaries, a background memorandum, and a presentation slide deck that can be used when advocating for adoption of this ordinance.
While this ordinance provides a broad foundation for supportive local policy, various pieces of it can be adopted individually based on the needs and capacity of the local government and community. Incorporating any piece of this ordinance into local policy is a step in the right direction.
Community Composting at Many Scales
This model ordinance defines community composting as:
“An approach to composting, using one or more basic configurations, that:
- Sources organic material locally, distributes most or all of the compost locally or uses most or all of the compost on local soils, and typically engages the community in the composting process;
- Occupies a smaller operational area and processes substantially less organic material than industrial composting; and
- Does not engage in on-farm composting (unless on an urban farm or in a community garden).”
This definition intentionally does not include parameters for size or scale because community composting can exist at many different scales and is more accurately defined by the extent to which the composting operation engages with and supports the local community and environment.
Zoning for Community Composting
Zoning is an important element for community composting which is not addressed in this ordinance. The companion Model Zoning Ordinance on Community Composting, developed by ELI and NRDC with contributions from ILSR, provides model language to reduce zoning barriers for community composting. When used in conjunction with the Model Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting, these models lay a strong foundation for local composting impact and success.
Existing model zoning policies that support community composting are documented in ILSR’s Composting Policy Library.
More Information:
- “Creating a Glide Path for Municipal Action: An Overview of Model Ordinances and Executive Orders on Food Waste Reduction” – Webinar by the Environmental Law Institute on the Model Ordinance
- Zoning for Community-Scale Composting – Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting, With and Without Commentaries – Natural Resources Defense Council
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New Model Municipal Ordinance Reduces Regulatory Barriers to and Provides Opportunities for Community Composting – Environmental Law Institute
- Model Zoning Ordinance on Community Composting – Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Law Institute
- Tackling Food Waste in Cities: A Policy and Program Toolkit (Second Edition) – Natural Resources Defense Council