EPA issues toolkit aimed at improving composting

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a toolkit to help boost composting of food waste through the principles of social marketing.

The toolkit is a resource for states, territories, local governments, tribes and nongovernmental organizations that wish to create composting campaigns in their communities.

It can be used by agencies and organizations that want to:

• launch new food scrap composting programs;
• increase participation in existing food scrap composting programs; and
• reduce contamination in their compost collection streams.
  

The toolkit is accompanied by composting campaign materials created by municipalities and organizations that are available for use and customization by any communities.

It also includes a planning process that uses social marketing principles to ensure communities are tailoring the campaign to their individual needs, and it is accompanied by customizable materials.

Social marketing is a discipline that aims to change behaviors for the good of society, communities and people. Social marketing approaches can increase the effectiveness of communications and marketing efforts, the EPA says. To create meaningful, sustainable behavior change, organizations can deploy social marketing strategies to overcome barriers and provide people with personal motivators to act.

The EPA toolkit outlines seven basic steps to create an effective social marketing program designed to improving composting.

First, agencies need to define the purpose, goals and objectives of the campaign. Then, they need to define the audiences targeted by the campaign, which can have a spectrum of attitudes and knowledge regarding composting. Then, agencies should document how they’d like to see consumer behavior change.

Once the basic outline of the campaign is set, organizers should identify barriers to success, benefits of a successful campaign and how best to motivate different audiences. Finally, organizers should recruit any needed partners, develop messages and campaign materials, create an implementation plan and determine how the campaign will be evaluated.

The EPA has released the toolkit as New York City prepares to roll out its curbside compostable materials collection program and as California continues implementing SB 1383, which requires all cities in the state to reduce landfilling of compostable materials by 75 percent by 2025.

New York will begin phasing in its program this October, completing the rollout by October 2024. The city conducted what it says was a successful pilot program in Queens in 2022.