COOLNow

Composting Is
Infrastructure Too!

Tuesday, July 19, 2022
2:00pm to 3:30-ish, Pacific Time • Free

The Composting Is  Infrastructure Too webinar is a part of a series of webinars hosted by the Recycling is Infrastructure Too Campaign. Zero Waste USA, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and the National Recycling Coalition are sponsors. COOLNow, a program of Zero Waste USA is promoting this webinar.

Learn more about:

  • Getting your facilities funded
  • What is Composting Infrastructure
  • Market development Opportunities
  • Progress on available federal money

Organized by Rick Anthony, Gary Liss,
Ruth Abbe, & Chris Sparnicht

Webinar Agenda Here

Challenge

The EPA estimates that 40-50% of what is currently landfilled is compostable organics – yard debris, scrap wood, food and unrecyclable paper products. When these materials decompose, they emit methane, a greenhouse gas over twenty times more impactful than carbon dioxide.

Solution

When composted properly and spread on open land, compost greatly increases the soils ability to absorb and utilize atmospheric carbon. In addition, it extends the life of gardens, landscape and farms, providing plant nourishment and conserving water and resources.

Get COOL Now! Get Compostable Organics Out of the Landfills Now!

This site is dedicated to reducing landfill methane production. We need to divert compostables today, now! Hence, the name of our program, COOLNow. We hope you’ll follow along on our journey!

Latest
July 20, 2022Composting / Food / Funding / Growing the MovementRick Moderated the Composting is Infrastructure Too webinar. Richard Anthony, Vice President, Zero Waste USA, President, Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) and Principal, Zero Waste Associates, San Diego CA Rick is also a volunteer board member of the National Zero Waste Conference who began his career in Public Administration in 1971 as a manager of the California State University Long Beach Recycling Center. He received a MS in Public Administration in 1974. Mr. Anthony has worked his entire career in environmental program management positions. He is an internationally recognized and published expert in the area of Resource Management using the Zero Waste Systems approach. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of the California Resource Recovery Association, the Grassroots Recycling Network, the Zero Waste International Alliance, the USA National Recycling Coalition and others. Tuesday, July 19, 2022 • 2:00pm to 3:30-ish, Pacific Time Organized by Rick Anthony, Gary Liss, Ruth Abbe, & Chris Sparnicht Webinar Agenda [...]
July 19, 2022Composting / Funding / Growing the MovementAll times posted are Pacific time. 2:00PM – Rick Anthony – Moderator Welcome – HousekeepingOrganizing for Getting Composting Facilities Funded and Government procurement of compost products for all infrastructure projects and government lands.2:10PM – Craig Coker Composting Site Selection- what is it, how to site it2:25PM – Anthony Myint Zero Foodprint – Streamlining Statewide Procurement – Optimizing Climate Benefit and Minimizing Cost2:45PM – Gary Liss Compost Facility Federal Funding Availability – What can be funded – Where to look2:55PM – Questions/Observations Rick Anthony – Moderator – Speakers/Attendees3:30ish – Rick Anthony – ClosingEPA Letter LinkThank you! Webinar Video [...]
July 13, 2022Composting / Food / Funding / Growing the MovementGary has 47 years’ experience in recycling, is a leading advocate of Zero Waste, and is Coordinator of the Recycling Is Infrastructure Too Campaign.  He is Vice-President of Zero Waste USA and past President and Lifetime Honorary Board Member of the National Recycling Coalition. He also served on the Town Council and was Mayor of Loomis, CA. Presentation: Federal Funding for Composting and Food Waste Reduction Regardless of where you are in the process: organizing, planning, site selection, design, marketing agreements, construction, operation, upgrades, or renovations, getting an early scope on funding will help the process along. Gary will explain how much and what kind of funding is available, where to search for it, and how to apply for it in the next funding cycle. Tuesday, July 19, 2022 • 2:00pm to 3:30-ish, Pacific Time Organized by Rick Anthony, Gary Liss, Ruth Abbe, & Chris Sparnicht Webinar Agenda [...]
July 6, 2022UncategorizedCraig Coker With over 40 years’ experience orchestrating organics recycling facilities, Craig Coker will briefly outline how to get started with our own compostable organics diversion facilities at the CiIT webinar. Presentation: Compost Site Selection Acquire a general understanding of the parameters required for how to site your composting facility: Location selection criteriaSite Analysis & AssessmentZoning and RegulationsFutureproofingMore! Registration is now available. Tuesday, July 19, 2022 • 2:00pm to 3:30-ish, Pacific Time Organized by Rick Anthony, Gary Liss, Ruth Abbe, & Chris Sparnicht Additional information about other speakers to follow Webinar Agenda [...]
June 24, 2022UncategorizedA new non-woven spun/sprayed-on plant-based fiber material can replace plastic food packaging. Rutgers University and Harvard are developing a polymer nicknamed “APF” (Antimicrobial Pullulan Fiber) allows produce to remain shelf-stable longer. Apparently, you just wash off the non-toxic APF coating when you’re ready to use the produce. In image “e” above, the light green avocado is coated with APF. The dark green avocado is uncoated. In image “f”, the coating is being washed off. Image “g” shows the avocado with the APF washed off, ready for consumption. Pullulan is a long-chain saccharide that is digestible by humans. It also breaks down in compost in a few days. The process is non-toxic, scalable and reasonably easy to use. The next step will be finding a way to print QR or UPC codes for easy scanning. Now if they can create an at-home APF spinner… The article is available here. The original paywalled article here. Another article here. Thanks to Elena Mateo from Alianza Zero Waste Costa Rica for finding this incredible article! [...]
June 22, 2022Growing the Movement / Composting / FundingAnthony Myint Award-Winning chef/restaurateur leading public-private collaborations to mobilize the entire food and waste economy to scale climate solutions by shifting acres from extractive to carbon re-storing farming practices. Presentation: How Entire Industries and Jurisdictions are Scaling Carbon Sequestration Tuesday, July 19, 2022 • 2:00pm to 3:30-ish, Pacific Time Organized by Rick Anthony, Gary Liss, Ruth Abbe, & Chris Sparnicht Webinar Agenda [...]
June 21, 2022UncategorizedThe EPA is asking for feedback on infrastructure law pertaining to US Recycling and Waste Management. It’s important for us to let those in charge know that Composting is Infrastructure Too! To that end these are some constructive resources for you to make that happen. Note: Why are we asking for your name and address? EPA wants real names and addresses of constituents. Comments and sign-ons without real names and addresses are not counted. Dear EPA, We the undersigned want to ensure these considerations are integrated as part of the Infrastructure Law found at this EPA web page: https://www.epa.gov/rcra/bipartisan-infrastructure-law-transforming-us-recycling-and-waste-management Why? Because Composting is infrastructure too. This is important first because about 18% of methane emissions come from landfills according to EPA’s own reporting. Second, about half of what’s landfilled can generally be diverted from landfills to composting facilities. These are the two easiest low hanging fruit to address when it comes to fighting climate change. In many counties that haven’t already begun, that means creating new or revising existing infrastructure so that compostable organics are diverted from landfills and into composting facilities at scales that are appropriate for each community. The list of physical and social parameters outlined below are important considerations in developing a strategy that funds infrastructure to transform US recycling and waste management: Physical Infrastructure – for compostable organics diversion Reduction – (e.g. LeanPath,com)Reusables – Edible Food to Food PantriesWindrowsIn-Vessel SystemsUrban CompostingBackyard CompostingCommunity Composting (decentralization)on-Farm CompostingDigestion (Anaerobic/Aerobic)Development of Collection Programs Social Infrastructure – for compostable organics diversion Permitting documentsBehavior ChangeAdoption of PoliciesReductionTraining programsWorkforce Development  Yours sincerely, The undersigned [...]
March 22, 2022Growing the Movement / Composting / Green House GasCompostable Organics Out Of Landfill (COOLNow) April 13, 2022, 12 – 2pm EST9 – 11am PST, Zoom – Free The Compostable Organics Out Of Landfill (COOLNow) Chair Richard Anthony invites compost and resource management professionals and community organizers to attend this urgent call to action. We will discuss current initiatives, brainstorm and plan Spring activities, monthly state or regional virtual meetings and quarterly network meetings. This campaign will support local organizers in expanding their programs to remanage organics out of landfills and into composting facilities in order to reduce methane emissions and promote healthy soils. Free Methane Action Webinar! Find out more about COOLNow on this website! Advisors: Richard Anthony, Vice President Of Advocacy, Zero Waste USA, President, Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), Principal, Zero Waste Associates, San Diego CASally Brown, Research Associate Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, WAStuart Buckner, Buckner Environmental Associates, Ronkonkoma,, NYPeter Anderson, President of RecycleWorlds Consulting and Executive Director, Center for a Competitive Waste Industry, Madison, WIKevin Drew, Carbon Positive Futures and Zero Waste Coordinator, San Francisco Department of Environment, Petaluma, CA Staff: Chris Sparnicht, Program ManagerPortia Sinnott, Program Director Zero Waste USA Organized by COOLNow Chair Richard Anthony of Zero Waste USA and the National Recycling Coalition Board. Brought to you by Zero Waste USA Featured image is a combination of two concepts. The background is the “climate stripes” concept created by climatologist Ed Hawkins as a visual representation of the indisputable trend toward climate warming. The pie chart overlaid is a graphical representation of the Methane Emissions in 2020 as shown in the US EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Index of 2021 (GHGI 2021). Together they show the 17 percent of emissions that could be easily controlled today by legislation to remove compostable organics out of landfills. Let’s do this! [...]
November 21, 2021UncategorizedSoil structure is layered. Different organisms prefer to live at different layers in the soil. When we till, those layers are disturbed. The ability for the soil to hold water and provide living space for flora and fauna is threatened. Storm water run-off is increased, affecting the entire biome downstream. But we don’t have to farm by tilling. No-till farming is a way of planting and harvesting without disturbing soil layers. Here’s a great in-depth video produced by ABC News about why No-Till farming could help reduce the impacts of climate change. Photo Credit: ABC News on YouTube. [...]
November 12, 2021Food / Composting / Green House Gas / SustainabilityA guy named Eben Bayer has been spearheading recent developments in the use of fungi for biodegradable packaging, housing and even meat substitutes! Although not explicitly covered in the linked blog post, fungi can be used to make packaging that is great for protecting glass or other breakable products at a competitive cost, while at the same time using a smaller carbon footprint to create the packaging. The packaging is durable enough to be reused if possible, but if it no longer serves a purpose, the packaging can be quickly composted because it contains only brown materials like sawdust and mycelium that have been dried and baked to stop mycelial growth. There are no artificial, non-compostable parts in the packaging. Just break it up and toss it in a compost pile. Here’s a link to the post: Protecting Fungal Biodiversity Critical to Life on Earth Background Fungi are neither plant nor animal. There are six known kingdoms of life on Planet Earth: Plants, Animals and Fungi are the three most understood. Fungal Diversity Survey or “FunDiS” are a citizen science program whose mission is to genetically and photographically catalog as many fungi as can be possibly studied throughout the world. Why? We’ve only recently begun to understand that the diversity of fungi are lot more important to the sustainability of the plant and animal kingdoms than previously known. We’re losing plant and animal diversity at a staggering rate yearly, but just as importantly, we’re losing fungal species too. Fungi can manage so many of our modern conveniences at a fraction of the carbon footprint we hold today. All we need to do is research and develop those tools. Imagine living in a house made of fungus: it serves both as shelter and as a carbon sink for as long as the house is maintained. We already love eating mushrooms as a species, and mushrooms contain a certain umami element that can often serve well as a meat substitute. New fungal meat substitutes will likely be able to satisfy the cravings of most meat connoisseurs. Fungi are integral to composting, and will be integral to comprehensive challenges that face our world today: food, clothing, shelter, distribution. I look forward to where this adventure takes us! [...]
October 29, 2021Composting / LegislationWould you allow your body to be composted after death? There are a lot of good reasons for taking this approach. Morticians in densely populated cities and small towns are beginning to realize this is a better way to go. Caitlin Doughty, a well-published author and full-time mortician, runs a quirky YouTube channel called “Ask A Mortician.” On this channel, she discusses how we cope with death. She chooses to take a serious-up-beat, fresh-air, windows-open approach. Whether discussing historical, modern or alternative funeral methodologies and the social parameters they ensconce, she always makes us laugh about the ultimate last breath, but at the same time we find ourselves learning something useful or important that might apply to our own lives. One such example is her segment on Human Composting. There are a number of states where it is now legal to compost the remains of relatives who have passed. Why? Because there’s generally a significantly lower carbon footprint to compost our remains than it is to embalm and bury or cremate them. In this segment Caitlin deep dives into the compost with her friend and colleague Katherine Spade of Sealtte-based “Recompose” a funeral home that composts! Caitlin lives in California, which has not yet passed a bill for human composting, but she and some activist friends are convinced this is a good way forward for the future. Want to learn more? Watch Caitlin as she talks with guests who are doing human composting in the video below! Photo credit featured image: From the video “Let’s Visit a Human Composting Facility!” on YT channel “Ask a Mortician”. [...]
August 21, 2021Food / LegislationThanks to David P. Hott from NCRA Board of Directors for this information: Newly introduced in Congress, the Zero Food Waste Act would establish local programs in communities like ours that invest in preventing food waste and keeping it out of landfills. Food is too valuable to waste, and we need to take action now. Join me and World Wildlife Fund, and ask your member of Congress to cosponsor the Zero Waste Food Act. The Zero Waste Food Act of 2021 achieves at least these goals: gets food into the hands of the food insecuregets compostable organics out of landfills, thereby reducing methane Take Action Featured Photo by ja ma on Unsplash [...]
August 3, 2021Composting / LegislationSophia Jones and Brenda Platt of Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) recently wrote about a new proposal for a federal policy on composting. The COMPOST act lays out what composting is and gives steps on how to enable and fund increased compost management on multiple levels including at homes, on farms, small businesses, and through diversion away from landfills to composting facilities at the local county/city level. It includes a funding proposal of $2 billion over 10 years. Funding would go toward grants and loans that would help get more composting sites implemented nationwide. The COMPOST act (a fun backronym for “Cultivating Organic Matter through the Promotion of Sustainable Techniques”) was introduced by Congresswoman Julia Brownley of California and co-sponsored by congressmembers Chellie Pingree of Maine, Ann Kuster of New Hampshire and Scott Peters of California. The US Composting Infrastructure Coalition (USCIC) helped develop the bill, of which ILSR is a member. The point of the bill is to help keep federal policy on track to reach net-zero emissions goals by 2050. This bill was one of a host of complimentary/companion bills related in Jones’s and Platt’s article. For more about the COMPOST act, here’s the original article by Sophia Jones and Brenda Platt. To support the bill, USCIC has provided this link that allows you to directly contact your legislators. To read the bill, here’s a pdf posted by Julia Brownley’s office. Featured Image Photo Credit: ILSR.org [...]
June 14, 2021Composting / DIYRead this 3-part deep dive by Time Dewey-Mattia, Education Manager at Napa Recycling & Waste Services and NCRA Board Member. Former NCRA President Arthur R Boone recently posed a question to Dewey-Mattia via email on “Why the conversion of the yard debris green cart into the full-service organics cart has stumbled badly in getting rolled out? Would love to understand all that resistance better.” Here is their correspondence and what both thought would be valuable to share with other interested parties. Why Isn’t Everyone Composting Yet?  Part 1 – Behavior Change Why Isn’t Everyone Composting Yet? Part 2 – Uneven Access Why Isn’t Everyone Composting Yet? Part 3 – Telling the Story Photo Credit: Antranias – Pixabay [...]
June 11, 2021UncategorizedSWEEP – Solid Waste Environment Excellence Performance – cool backronym!Presenters include: Georgia Marks & Amy Slagle of the City of Austin, TX and Rob Watson, SWEEP Standard. This is a webinar about collecting compostable materials curbside. Register Looking forward to seeing you there! This is a production of GreenEducation.US. Check out their other certifications, classes and webinars! [...]
June 4, 2021Composting / StartNEW COALITION ADVOCATES FOR INVESTMENT AND EXPANSION OF AMERICA’S COMPOSTING INFRASTRUCTURE The US Composting Infrastructure Coalition brings together a vital cross section of the US organics recycling community, associations working on sustainable materials, and other stakeholders to support innovative and responsible waste reduction and recovery solutions like composting. communities launched the U.S. Composting Infrastructure Coalition to support innovative andresponsible waste reduction and recovery solutions like composting. The Coalition believescomposting serves as an opportunity to address key environmental challenges and deliverpositive economic impacts to people and communities. Featured Image Photo Credit: Onondaga County Resource Recovery Authority, Courtesy of US Composting Council. [...]
May 28, 2021Composting / DIY / SustainabilityComposting… We don’t all have gardens, but for those of us who do, it’s good to have a compost plan. Even apartment dwellers can compost! In honor of National Compost day, here are a few resources for beginners. EarthEasy Post on Composting Gardeners Supply suggests simple recipes for composting. From YouTube channel Epic Gardening: Why not start your compost habit today? [...]
March 22, 2021Composting / SustainabilityCheck out this amazing Zero Waste Gainesville interview of Stephan Barron of Beaten Path Composting a weekly food scrap pickup business in Gainesville, FL. Barron talks about the advantages of compost for soil health and how he has made it into a thriving local business, all while balancing sustainability, living wage and environment. … Stephan Barron and a good friend originally began composting for a few restaurants in downtown Gainesville to feed the community garden they were operating. He rapidly realized “that innovative, natural crop-growing could alter the current unsustainable food system that exists in our cities.” This philosophy ultimately evolved into a business as Stephan “grasped how economics and ecology worked together.” Stephan envisions a food production system “that is decentralized, where the wealth and material created would be distributed equitably and locally, instead of winding up in the hands of investors who do not even live here.” […] Featured Image Photo Credit Zero Waste Gainesville [...]
March 14, 2021Composting / Green House GasDiverting organics out of landfills helps reduce GHG Emissions. The County of San Diego is creating a series of ordinances to help clarify the path for this to happen. These could be great model legislation for other local legislators. Photo by Katie Rodriguez on Unsplash View Post [...]
March 5, 2021Composting / DIYThanks to Neil Seldman from ILSR for posting about this on GreenYes! A DIY compost sifter made from hardware cloth, scrap wood and old bicycle rims! Brilliant! DIY Compost Sifter Build a trommel compost sifter for your home, library or school! [...]
March 3, 2021FoodLynne Rossetto Kasper has retired from hosting a fantastic NPR radio show called Splendid Table. However, episode 570 from Thanksgiving, November 2014 offered some information about hunger. About 16 minutes into the episode, Lynne spoke with Author Elizabeth Royte on her (then) new book Garbage Land. She offers as a look on how we Americans waste food. Some stats… 41 million people go hungry yearly.162 billion dollars worth of food isn’t eaten yearly – one third of all the food in the US.Check out: The High Cost of Food Waste – Article by Elizabeth Royte in NatGeo In Garbage Land, acclaimed science writer Elizabeth Royte leads us on the wild adventure that begins once our trash hits the bottom of the can.Quoting from her Amazon book description… Check out Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s interview here! [...]
January 27, 2021End / StartLet’s get compostable orgnanics out of landfills now! [...]
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