{"id":14151,"date":"2013-05-08T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ilsr.org\/articles\/composting-makes-ene-jobs-through-composting-compost-use\/"},"modified":"2024-06-14T18:15:48","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T22:15:48","slug":"composting-sense-tables","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/ilsr.org\/es\/article\/composting-for-community\/composting-sense-tables","title":{"rendered":"Composting Makes $en$e: Jobs through Composting & Compost Use"},"template":"","class_list":["post-14151","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_type-report","initiatives-composting-for-community","topics-community-composting","topics-job-creation","topics-zero-waste","impact_areas-climate-and-environmental-justice","impact_areas-economic-justice","authors-brenda-platt"],"acf":{"details":{"featured_image":9247,"background_color":"tan","article_type":[8],"initiative":15,"display_event_fields":false,"start_date":null,"end_date":null,"start_time":null,"end_time":null,"time_zone":"America\/New_York","virtual_event":false,"location":"","topics":[42,91,121],"impact_areas":[16,20],"abstract":"

Recycling is an economic development tool as well as an environmental tool. Reuse, recycling, and waste reduction offer direct development opportunities for communities. When collected with skill and care, and upgraded with quality in mind, discarded materials are a local resource that can contribute to local revenue, job creation, business expansion, and the local economic base.… Read More<\/a><\/p>\r\n","authors_tax":[601]},"sidebar":{"title":"\u00cdndice"},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

<\/div>\r\nCompost has the potential to become a driver of local economic growth and a vital tool in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and other watersheds. Long prized by gardeners and farmers, compost is the soil-like material produced by decomposed organic waste, such as yard trimmings and food scraps.\r\n\r\nAccording to ILSR\u2019s May 2013 report, Pay Dirt: Composting in Maryland to Reduce Waste, Create Jobs & Protect the Bay<\/i>,<\/a> expanding composting and local compost use could support almost 1,400 new full-time jobs in Maryland, paying wages ranging from $23 million to $57 million.\r\n\r\nILSR identified 42 facilities that compost, mulch, or recycle natural wood waste in Maryland.\u00a0 The 23 facilities that participated in ILSR\u2019s survey employ 4.1 full-time equivalent jobs per 10,000 tons per year of material composted.\u00a0 In contrast, the state\u2019s three incinerators employ 1.2 jobs per 10,000 tons per year of material they accept.\u00a0 Data from six of the state\u2019s 22 municipal solid waste landfills indicate that landfilling employs 2.1 jobs per 10,000 tons per year landfilled.\u00a0 See Table 1 below, which also compares the jobs per $10 million dollars of capital investment.\r\n\r\nOn a per-ton basis, in Maryland, composting (including mulching and natural wood waste recyclers) employs two times more workers than landfilling, and four times more workers than incineration.\u00a0 On a per-capital-investment basis, for every $10 million invested, composting facilities in Maryland support twice as many jobs as landfills and 17 more jobs than incinerators.\r\n\r\nILSR also found that the smaller the facility, the higher the job-to-ton ratio. Ten sites in its survey handle 5,000 tons per year or less.\u00a0 Seven sites handle between 5,000 and 20,000 tons per year.\u00a0 And six facilities handle 20,000 tons per year or more.\u00a0\u00a0 Small-scale facilities, for instance, employ 13.6 jobs for every 10,000 tons per year processed; medium sized, 5.9 jobs; and large sites, 2.8 jobs per 10,000 tons per year composted.\r\n\r\nIn addition to direct jobs at composting sites (such as skilled equipment operators for windrow turners, front-end loaders, grinders, and screeners), further jobs are supported in the use of compost, which also tends to take place regionally.\r\n\r\nILSR contacted 13 for-profit businesses that use compost for soil erosion control, stormwater management, and other green infrastructure to determine how many workers they employ and how much compost they use.\u00a0 Together these businesses, which span nine states from Maryland to California, employ 18 workers for every 10,000 tons per year of compost used<\/i> (or 6.2 jobs per 10,000 tons of material composted<\/i>).\r\n\r\nIf the estimated 1 million tons of organic materials now disposed in Maryland were instead composted at a mix of small, medium, and large facilities and the resulting compost used within the state, almost 1,400 new full-time equivalent jobs could potentially be supported, paying wages ranging from $23 million to $57 million.\u00a0 In contrast, when disposed in the state\u2019s landfills and incinerators, this tonnage only supports 120 to 220 jobs.\u00a0 See Table 2 below.\r\n\r\nTo download the full report, click here<\/span>.<\/a><\/strong>\r\n\r\n
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