On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by her colleague Brenda Platt who leads the Composting Initiative and guests Sarah Boltwala-Mesina, Monique Figueiredo, and Kourtnii Brown who each run composting programs. They discuss solid waste franchising and how it impacts community composting. … Read More
More than 42 million tons of food scraps are landfilled or burned in the US each year, as estimated by the EPA. One reason among many is lack of adequate funding to prevent, rescue, and recycle wasted food. One funding mechanism with a proven track record of raising funds to reduce and recycle waste is the establishment of a per-ton surcharge on waste landfilled or incinerated. This article features ten examples of existing regulations that allocate revenue from waste disposal surcharges to fund waste diversion, reuse, recycling, composting, and other sustainability efforts, and extracts best practices and possible roadblocks that may help to guide the development of new legislation to fund composting and divert waste.… Read More
The Environmental Protection Agency announced that it recognizes the Institute for Local Self-Reliance as an awardee in the regional grant category for building resilient and healthy communities, advancing local composting, and enhancing soils for local food production. … Read More
A new online course from ILSR will support the expansion of locally-based composting initiatives at community gardens, farms, schools, and other sites. Composting transforms food scraps and other materials into a valuable product that improves soil health, while recycling nutrients that would otherwise be disposed. Composting also helps communities reduce wasted food and combat climate change. … Read More
As part of ILSR’s Baltimore Composting for Community Project, we are supporting about a dozen community compost sites in the city. This month we hosted two events in Baltimore to build DIY compost screeners designed for the community scale.… Read More
In BioCycle, Brand Platt spoke about the business of community composting and the state of the industry today in the U.S. … Read More
In this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Brenda Platt, Director of ILSR’s Composting for Community Initiative, and Kesiah Bascom, founder of OffBeet Compost.… Read More
Brenda Platt, Director of ILSR’s Composting for Community initiative, was interviewed in a recent short film produced by NRDC.… Read More
In this episode of Building Local Power, host Brenda Platt speaks with Elsa Higby and Aleks Jagiello of the Queens Botanical Garden Farm and Compost Site.… Read More
