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

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
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 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 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 [...]
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