Are you a community composter or farmer wanting to learn more about composting equipment sized for small operations? This webinar featured a panel of equipment providers as well as community composters talking about their DIY systems and favorite pieces of equipment. They covered micro composting bins, aerated static pile systems, screeners, and more. Participation is free for farmers and for members of the Community Composter Coalition!
This live webinar took place on October 28th, 2021
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-scale and on-farm composting.
For more information on our On-Farm Composting webinar series, click HERE.
To view and listen to our past composting-related webinar recordings, click HERE.
Panelists
 VAN CALVEZ
Composting Systems Engineer, Green Mountain Technologies Van has been a composting systems engineer for Green Mountain Technologies for more than ten years. Van focuses on in-vessel composting systems for organizations and communities. He provides design, engineering, and technical support for the Earth Flow and the Earth Cube composting systems. He has been composting for more than 20 years and he loves to help people compost!
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 PETER MOON
President & Principal Engineer, O2Compost Peter is O2Compost’s founder and principal engineer, and he has over 30 years of experience in the composting industry. With a focus on utilizing the aerated static pile (ASP) method of composting, he has worked with virtually every type of organic “waste” imaginable. Peter specializes in designing ASP compost systems of all sizes and configurations as well as providing operator training to individuals and organizations who want to optimize their composting operations.
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 PETER TZANNES
Compost Operations Manager, Lower East Side Ecology Center Peter is a USCC Certified Compost Operations Manager and manages the Ecology Center’s hauling and compost operations. In East River Park he upgraded the compost facility’s stormwater management system and implemented turned-windrow and ASP composting processes. Previously, Peter was GrowNYC’s compost program manager and later, project manager for the NYC Compost Project hosted by Big Reuse, where he contributed to the redesign of the Queensbridge compost facility.
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 PETER TOTH
Member, Greenbelt Zero Waste Circle Peter is an active community member of the Greenbelt Zero Waste Circle, an all-volunteer community of 60+ families. The Zero Waste Circle is supporting a number of community-engaged composting activities including 3-bin hot compost stations, red wiggler Wigwams composting food from local businesses, kits for in-home vermi-composting, and training for backyard composting. They have built their own systems and screeners and have innovated and improved on some DIY designs. Peter will discuss experience with equipment they have found useful for preparation, storage, and sifting of composted material they feed to their worm bins.
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Co-founder and Operations Coordinator, Earth Matter NY, Inc. Charlie Bayrer has been a community based composter for 20 years. He is a co-founder of Earth Matter NY Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to advancing neighbor participation in the art, science, and application of composting in New York City. Earth Matter NY accepts and processes food waste generated by NYC residents through a partnership with the Department of Sanitation’s NYC Compost Project and GrowNYC. In a zero waste partnership with The Trust for Governors Island, Earth Matter processes all of the landscape trimmings and wasted food (along with service ware) generated by Island vendors and visitors. The Earth Matter facility utilizes both active and passive aerated static pile systems to process approx. 800T/yr., producing 350-400cy of finished compost.
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DAVID KLEIN Organics Recovery Coordinator, Earth Matter NY, Inc. David initially volunteered through NY Cares to look after the chickens in the 2015 Winter season. In April 2015, David dedicated his time to complete the 200 hr compost apprenticeship program. |
CHARLIE BAYRER
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, trainings, 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.
Image Credits (clockwise from top left): Greenbelt Zero Waste Cooperative DIY trommel screener (Greenbelt, MD DPW website); Green Mountain Technologies micro bin (GMT website); Earth Matter mixer (ILSR photo); O2 Compost system at private horse farm in Poolesville, Maryland (O2 Compost website); Earth Matter screener (ILSR photo); and Earth Matter chipper (ILSR photo).
