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Download Workshop Agenda (PDF)
Best Practices in Community Composting Workshop
Monday, January 22nd, 2018 • Atlanta, Georgia
The Westin Peachtree Plaza, 210 Peachtree Street NW
In this full-day workshop for community composters, held as part of COMPOST2018, we will walk through practices that work and address how to take your community-scale composting to the next level. Through both presentation and small group discussion, walk away knowing how to adapt the efforts and achievements of other programs for your community. Open to community-scale composters who are composting on-site at schools, community gardens and farms or otherwise keeping the process as local and small-scale as possible while engaging the community through participation and education. Pedal-powered collectors welcome.
Practitioners: A diverse team of community composters will lead this workshop.
Facilitators/hosts: Brenda Platt and Linda Bilsens Brolis, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
YOU MUST BE REGISTERED FOR THIS EVENT.
If you are not seeking a scholarship nor a waived registration, please register as a regular attendee on the US Composting Council (USCC) web site, here. Workshop Cost: USCC Member Price: $275 / Non-Member Price: $350
Community composters, please join us! While our travel scholarship deadline has passed, we can still secure the community composter special registration rate for you. Email Virginia Streeter at vstreeter@ilsr.org.
Agenda
8:00 – 8:30 AM — Coffee
8:30 – 9:10 AM
Overview and Who’s Here?
Brenda Platt, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Washington, D.C. – @ILSR, @PlattBrenda
9:10 – 9:30 AM
Part 1: Key Ingredients of Community Composting
Moderator: Nora Goldstein, BioCycle, Emmaus, Pa. – @BioCycleMag
Presenters:
- Growing and Scaling in Community Composting, Daniel Brown, Rust Belt Riders, Cleveland, Ohio – @RustBeltRiders
9:30 – 9:50 AM — Continental Breakfast Break
9:50 – 10:30 AM
Part 1: [Cont.]
Presenters:
- Financing the Movement, Justin Senkbeil, CompostNow, Raleigh, N.C. – @CompostNow
- Model of a Worker-Owned Cooperative, Terry Craghead, Fertile Ground Cooperative, Oklahoma City, Okla.
10:30 – 11:30 AM
Part 2: Small-Scale & Urban Farm Composting
Moderator: David Paull, Compost Wheels. Atlanta – @compostwheels
Presenters:
- Worm & Other Composting Systems on an Urban Farm, Benny Erez, ECO City Farms, Bladensburg, Md. – @ECOCityFarms
- Small-Scale Composting Systems, Erik Martig, LA Compost, Los Angeles – @LACompost
- Integrating Composting into a Peri-Urban Farm, Christopher Edwards, Mayflor Farms, Southbridge, Ga.
- Using Black Soldier Flies in Composting, Paul Rabaut, Suncoast Compost, Riverview, Fla. – @suncoastcompost
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Part 3: Sharing Hacks, Innovations, Tips, and more…
(2 minutes each)
12:00 – 1:15 PM
Lunch
(at restaurants outside of hotel — on your own)
1:15 – 2:30 PM
Part 4: Social Justice, Youth, & Community Engagement
Moderator: Corinne Coe-Law, Terra Nova Compost, Atlanta – @wemakecompost
Presenters:
- Using Compost to Shift Youth Ecosystems, Whitney C. Jaye, Southeastern African American Farmers Organic Network, Atlanta – @SAAFON4Farmers
- Community Development Through Compost, Sundiata Ameh-El, Compost Community, Tallahassee, Fla.
- Youth-Led Composting Operations, Sandra Nurse, BK ROT, Brooklyn – @BKROT
Additional Panelists:
- Maurice Small, Farmer x Farmer Coalition, Atlanta
- Michael Martinez, LA Compost, Los Angeles – @LACompost
- Xavier Brown, Soilful City, Washington, D.C. – @SoilfulCity
2:30 – 3:15 PM
Part 5: Pedal Power!
Moderator: Jennifer Mastalerz, Bennett Compost & Philly Coop, Philadelphia – @BennettCompost
Presenters:
- Bike-Powered Collection, Outreach & Female Perspectives, Kathryn Nigro, CompostNow, Durham, N.C. – @CompostNow
- Micro-Haulers in NYC, Bikes, Consulting, Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, Common Ground Compost, New York City – @CommonCompost
3:15 – 3:30 PM — Break
3:30 – 4:00 PM
Part 6: Breakout Discussions
(suggested)
- Best management practices (BMPs) at compost sites
- Community engagement/community empowerment
- Policy agenda to support community composting
- Business/finance planning
- Compost innovations (bokashi, black soldier flies, apps, & more)
4:00 – 4:30 PM
Report Back from Breakouts, Closing & Next Steps
Download Workshop Agenda (PDF)
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