The Composting Consortium, a collaboration managed by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, released a new blueprint to guide municipal leaders in zero waste, solid waste and sustainability in establishing and scaling composting infrastructure and organics management programs across the country.聽How Organics Diversion Can Help Achieve Zero Waste Goals: A Blueprint for Action,聽co-authored with Eco-Cycle, based in Boulder, Colorado, is an essential guide for municipalities seeking to develop food scraps collection programs and to work with composters to meet zero waste and climate goals. Alongside the release of the blueprint, the Consortium invites U.S. municipalities and composters to join聽two newly launched platforms聽that support municipalities and composters in scaling organics infrastructure.
Today, food waste in landfills is a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that significantly contributes to climate change. Diverting food scraps and yard waste through municipal organics programs reduces methane emissions and provides environmental benefits such as improved soil health, water conservation, carbon sequestration, and support for local economies and ecosystems.聽To support this diversion, the U.S. composting industry is in an early stage of transformation. More composters are looking to accept and process more food waste; approximately 70% of composters who process food also accept and process some format of food-contact compostable packaging, with the understanding that accepting these materials helps bring in more food waste to their facilities. However,聽only 10% of U.S. households have access to organics recycling through drop-off and curbside organics collection programs, and only 4% of wasted food is sent to composters today.
鈥淪ince its launch in 2021, the Composting Consortium has been focused on moving the needle to change that statistic,鈥� said Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. 鈥淏y creating this blueprint, we aim to equip municipal leaders with a basic 鈥榟ow-to鈥� manual to launch or scale successful organics programs that contribute to a zero-waste future, clean organics streams and a thriving composting industry.鈥�
The blueprint,聽How Organics Diversion Can Help Achieve Zero Waste Goals,聽offers a clear and actionable framework,聽including:
- Policy and Program Expansion for Diverting Food Waste:聽This section does a deep dive into effective strategies for policy development.聽It explores methods to incentivize resident and business participation,聽while outlining pathways to maximize food waste diversion from landfills.
- Setting Up Programs and Infrastructure:聽This section provides a clear roadmap for establishing new organics programs.聽It details best practices for collection methods,聽explores various processing options (composting facilities,聽anaerobic digestion),聽and offers guidance on navigating the critical process of contracting with composters.
- Communication with Program Participants:聽Recognizing the importance of resident and business engagement, this section provides a comprehensive communications toolkit.聽It outlines strategies for educating participants on proper sorting techniques,聽maximizing program participation聽and fostering long-term program success.
To thoughtfully scale organics management, key stakeholders must collaborate. This helps ensure that composting programs and infrastructure are developed to meet the diverse needs of stakeholders across the organics value chain鈥撯�揻rom composters, to cities, residents, businesses and more. Alongside the release of the blueprint, the Composting Consortium聽is launching two new platforms to engage directly with municipalities and composters across the country聽to support the scale-up of robust composting infrastructure.
The Composting Consortium鈥檚 new聽Composter Innovator Program聽aims to bring composters聽across the U.S. to the table to play an active role in shaping the future of the composting industry on topics like contamination, policy and funding food waste composting infrastructure. The group will take on important questions, including identifying the cost of processing compostable packaging and offering recommendations on how to allocate Extended Producer Responsibility funds to support composting infrastructure development. The Consortium invites composters across the U.S. to聽sign up for the program聽and be involved in the growth of composting infrastructure across the U.S.
The Consortium is also launching its聽Municipal Partner Platform, a free-to-access platform for city officials focused on sustainability, zero waste and waste management. The platform connects officials with leaders nationwide to share and discuss best practices in starting and expanding organics collection and infrastructure programs. Municipalities of all sizes and stages of development are聽invited to reach out聽to the Composting Consortium to explore ways the network can help them achieve their goals of diverting food waste from landfills.