Composting Consortium releases municipal composting blueprint, launches new platforms

The Composting Consortium, a collaboration managed by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, New York, has released a blueprint aimed at guiding municipalities in establishing and scaling composting infrastructure and organics management programs across the country. 

The consortium says the report, How Organics Diversion Can Help Achieve Zero Waste Goals: A Blueprint for Action, which was co-authored by Boulder, Colorado-based Eco-Cycle, can serve as a guide for municipalities seeking to develop food scraps collection programs and work with composters to meet zero waste and climate goals.

According to the consortium, the U.S. composting industry is in an early stage of transformation as more composting initiatives are developed to mitigate the production of methane from food waste. More composters are looking to accept and process more food waste, the consortium says, adding that approximately 70 percent of composters who process food also accept and process some format of food-contact compostable packaging. However, only 10 percent of U.S. households have access to organics recycling through drop-off and curbside organics collection programs, and only 4 percent of discarded food is sent to composters, the consortium reports.

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“Since its launch in 2021, the Composting Consortium has been focused on moving the needle to change that statistic,” says Kate Daly, managing director and head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “By creating this blueprint, we aim to equip municipal leaders with a basic ‘how-to’ manual to launch or scale successful organics programs that contribute to a zero-waste future, clean organics streams and a thriving composting industry.”

The blueprint’s framework outlines:

• policy and program expansion for diverting food waste;
• ways to set up programs and infrastructure; and
• communication with program participants.

The Composting Consortium says that to thoughtfully scale organics management, key stakeholders must collaborate, helping to ensure composting programs and infrastructure are developed to meet the needs of stakeholders across the organics value chain.

RELATED: Composting Consortium releases report, recommends ways to scale composting infrastructure

Alongside the release of the blueprint, the consortium is launching two new platforms to engage directly with municipalities and composters across the U.S. to support the scale-up of robust composting infrastructure.

The Composter Innovator Program aims to bring composters 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 consortium says the group will identify the cost of processing compostable packaging and offer recommendations on how to allocate extended producer responsibility (EPR) funds to support composting infrastructure development. The consortium invites composters to sign up for the program.

The consortium is also launching its 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 invited to reach out to the Composting Consortium.