In the Midwest, Ohio’s composting regulations are a great model for the region and other parts of the country. Officials have designed rules to suit various land uses (i.e. rural, suburban, urban) and made special effort to adapt to contemporary community needs via permit exemptions. … Read More
Washington has comprehensive composting regulations that facilitate composting by conditionally exempting several types of composting facilities – including those that process limited amounts of food scraps – from the requirement to obtain a permit. Washington also aims to protect the environment and human health by requiring composters to test for pathogens and adhere to specific performance-based standards.… Read More
Washington has comprehensive composting regulations that facilitate composting by conditionally exempting several types of composting facilities – including those that process limited amounts of food scraps – from the requirement to obtain a permit. Washington also aims to protect the environment and human health by requiring composters to test for pathogens and adhere to specific performance-based standards. … Read More
Oregon’s composting regulations aim to facilitate composting while preventing public nuisance issues and any adverse environmental consequences from materials mismanagement. Oregon revised its composting regulations in 2009, as a means to both facilitate greater amounts of composting, as well as ensure new and existing facilities performed at the same level of quality standards.… Read More
California’s regulations are written to encourage the production of high quality compost. Most composting operations are required to apply for a permit; however there are exemptions for some types of operations. For example, facilities that have less than 500 cubic yards of compost on-site, of which less than 10 percent is food scraps, are exempt from the requirement to obtain a permit.… Read More
California has the largest number of organic farms in the US, and these operations frequently utilize compost products for its myriad benefits. As such, California is careful to both foster in-state production of compost, as well as regulate composting operations based on risk levels associated with facility type. Californian compost operations are categorized in tiers and most are required to apply for a permit; however there are exemptions for some types of operations.… Read More
On June 28, 2016, Montgomery County Council (Maryland) Vice President, Roger Berliner, introduced legislation to require the development of a comprehensive composting and food recovery strategic plan. The bill might be the first in the country to stipulate a diverse and distributed plan that considers food rescue, backyard composting, community scale composting, on-site institutional and commercial composting, … Read More
The Waste to Wealth program seeks to encourage a composting infrastructure that is locally distributed and possesses a diversity of scales, feedstock materials, and end-uses for compost products. For more information, see ILSR’s report on “The State of Composting in the US” for a national snapshot of composting policy and models to replicate.
As of 2018, the state of California reported a 65 percent diversion rate for all materials and more than 140,000 green jobs in its recycling sector. This success is attributable to California’s 1989 Integrated Waste Management Act and the state’s more recent efforts to increase organics recycling through the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), a state agency that coordinates the state’s multiple waste and recycling management programs.… Read More
