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BIOCYCLE NATIONAL SURVEY

FOOD COMPOSTINGINFRASTRUCTURE

ADVANCING COMPOSTING, ORGANICS RECYCLINGAND RENEWABLE ENERGY

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FROM 1995 to 2000, BioCycle pub-lished an annual national survey offood waste composting projects inthe United States. Since then, wehave continued to track food wastecomposting activity, and in 2007launched www.findacomposter.

com, a publicly searchable data base thatlists many sites in the U.S. that receive mu-nicipal, commercial, institutional and indus-trial food waste streams.

Recently, there has been a surge of inter-est on the part of generators of food-basedmaterials to switch from disposal to recoveryvia composting and anaerobic digestion.There also has been a boom in college andcorporate campuses wanting to either man-age cafeteria food scraps on-site or divertthem to a composting facility. And to top thisall off, municipalities and states, recognizingthat food waste comprises a significant por-tion of MSW being disposed, have made theirdiversion and recovery a top priority.

For BioCycle and others involved in thecomposting industry, this expanding inter-est has led to regular emails and phone callsasking for a list of composting facilities in theU.S. that accept food waste. While many ofthese sites are captured in www.findacom-poster.com, the data base is relatively newand still being populated. So this summer,we decided to embark on a national survey offood waste composting facilities, dividing ouroutreach and reporting by regions of thecountry. For simplicity, we opted to groupthe states by the U.S. Environmental Pro-tection Agency’s regions (11 in all). If therearen’t many sites to list in a single region,several will be combined. As we compile thelists, we are adding these facilities towww.findacomposter.com, to keep the database growing.

The following sectors are included: Munic-ipal, Commercial, On-Farm and University.Not included are facilities established solelyto manage food residuals from a single gen-erator, e.g., an industrial facility processingits own material, a farm-based operation ser-vicing a single generator in a community(typically a food processor), or correctionalfacilities. We have included colleges and uni-versities, as this is one of the fastest growing

sectors of food waste diversion in the coun-try. Some campuses do on-site compostingwhile a number divert organics to a localcomposter. In all cases — just as it does withthe very small food waste composting andvermicomposting projects at elementary andsecondary schools — having young people ac-tively engage in source separation and com-posting is helping to create critical behaviorchanges that need to be fostered as studentsembark into the world.

NEW ENGLAND STATESThis first installment focuses on the New

England states (EPA Region 1) that includeMaine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas-sachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.Rhode Island is the only state where wecould not identify food waste composting pro-jects. A total of 51 projects were identified.

Table 1 provides a geographical distribu-tion of the projects in New England by sec-tor. There are a total of 17 college and uni-versity projects, 18 farm-based operations,12 commercial composters and 4 municipal-ities accepting food waste at their compost-ing facilities. Of the sites reporting annualtonnages composted (Table 2), 15 are in the0 to 200 tons/year (tpy) range, 10 in the 200to 1,000 tpy category, 7 in the 1,000 to 5,000tpy range, and 9 over 5,000 tpy.

Table 3 lists all the sites composting foodwaste in New England in the sectors we sur-veyed. Projects at colleges and universitiesare pretty evenly split between compostingon campus versus sending feedstocks off-campus to a composting site.

BioCycle editors welcome additions to thislist. Please email facility name, location anda contact if available to [email protected]. �

BioCycle surveyseries provides

region by regionlisting of food

wastecompostingprojects in

the U.S.Cristina Olivares

and Nora Goldstein

BIOCYCLE NATIONAL SURVEY: NEW ENGLAND


BIOCYCLE AUGUST 2008

Table 1. New England's distribution of food waste composters by sector

Colleges/ CommercialState Universities Farms Composters Municipalities

Connecticut 2 2 1 –Maine 6 5 2 1Massachusetts 5 7 5 –New Hampshire 2 - 2 2Vermont 2 4 2 1Total 17 18 12 4

Table 2. New England's distribution of food waste composters by size1

Number of Sites Accepting (tons/year)State 0-200 200-1,000 1,000-5,000 5,000 plus

Connecticut 2 1 – 2Maine 82 3 2 1Massachusetts 3 1 4 5New Hampshire 1 1 1 –Vermont 1 4 – 1Total 15 10 7 9

1Ten facilities did not report annual quantity of food waste composted. 2Colleges not providing annualtonnage were counted in the 0-200 column.

Food WasteManagement

BIOCYCLE AUGUST 2008

Table 3. Food waste composting facility highlights in New England

Food Waste Tonnages1 MaterialsState/Facility Name City (annual unless noted) Composted2 Source System

CONNECTICUTConnecticut College New London up to 17.5 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)New Milford Farms New Milford 53,865 FW, YW ICI, Res Aerated windrow, enclosedOld Maids Farm Glastonbury 5,900 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowPark Farm East Windsor 890 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowWesleyan University Middletown 3.25 (125 lbs/wk) FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)

MAINEBartlett Farm Services Eliot 3-4; 750 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP ICI WindrowBates College Lewiston n/a FW, SP ICI Off-site to compost

facility (Ricker Farm)Benson Farm Earth Products Gorham 2,000 FW, YW Res WindrowBowdoin College Brunswick 16.2 (80-100 lbs/day) FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub) but

transitioning to off-siteColby College Waterville 180 FW ICI Off-site to compost

facility (Hawk Ridge)Hawk Ridge Compost Facility Unity 72,500 FW, YW, SP, MB ICI In-vesselKnox Ridge Holstein Farm Thorndike 250-500 FW, manure ICI WindrowMaine's Best Compost Harpswell 250 FW, YW ICI, Res WindrowRicker Farm Lisbon 200-350 FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowSandy River Recycling Association Farmington 14 in 2006 FW, YW ICI WindrowUniversity of Maine, Farmington Farmington 35 FW ICI n/aUniversity of Maine, Orono Orono 50 gallons/day (using a pulper) FW ICI WindrowUniversity of New England Biddeford n/a FW ICI Off-site to compost facilityWinterwood Farm Lyman 5,000 (max) FW, SP, manure ICI Windrow

MASSACHUSETTSAgracomp Bolton 5,000-10,000 FW, YW ICI WindrowBoston College Chestnut Hill 64 (800 lbs/day) in 1 dining hall FW ICI n/aBrick Ends Farm S. Hamilton 5,200 FW, YW ICI WindrowClear View Composting Orange 2,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW ICI Windrow, aerated static pileGroundscapes Express, Inc. Wrentham 7,500 FW, YW ICI WindrowHampshire College Amherst 129 in 2006 FW ICI Windrow, aerated static pileHarvard University Cambridge 842 FW, YW ICI Off-site to compost facilityHoliday Farm Dalton n/a FW, YW, WCC ICI Windrow, aerated windrowKingfisher Corp N. Dartmouth 3,650 (max) FW, YW ICI Windrow, passive pilesMartin's Farm Greenfield 4,000 (max) FW, YW, WCC, SP ICI, Res WindrowMass Natural Fertilizer Westminster n/a FW, manure ICI Windrow, static piles,

vermicompostingMt. Holyoke College South Hadley 80 in 2006 FW ICI Off-site to compost facilityRocky Hill Farms Saugus 5,400 (15 tons/day) FW, YW ICI WindrowScantic Valley Farm Hampden n/a FW, YW, WCC ICI WindrowUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst Amherst 3,650 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, SP ICI Off-site to compost facilityWatts Family Farms Forestdale n/a FW, YW, WCC ICI Windrow, passive pilesWeCare Environmental Marlborough 12,000 in 2007 FW, YW, WCC, SP ICI, Res In-vessel, aerated windrow

NEW HAMPSHIREDartmouth College Hanover 253 in 2006 FW, SP ICI Off-site to compost facilityIdeal Compost Co., LLC Peterborough 500; 4,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW ICI WindrowKeene, City of Keene n/a FW, YW ICI WindrowKeene State College Keene 61 in 2006 FW ICI Off-site to compost facilityPeterborough Recycling Center Peterborough n/a FW, YW, SP ICI, Res Passive pilesSeacoast Farms Compost Products, Inc. Exeter n/a FW, YW, SP ICI Windrow

VERMONTGreen Mountain College Poultney 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Green Mountain Soil Stowe n/a FW, manure ICI VermicompostingHighfields Institute Hardwick 364 (max) FW, YW, SP ICI WindrowIntervale Compost Products3 Burlington 22,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, SP ICI WindrowMiddlebury College Middlebury 329 in 2006 FW, YW, SP ICI Passive pilesNortheast Kingdom Waste Management Dist. Lyndonville n/a FW, YW ICI, Res WindrowSanctuary Farm Morrisville 350 (max) FW, YW, SP ICI, Res Aerated windrow,

vermicompostingVermont Compost Co. Montpelier n/a FW, manure ICI WindrowVermont Natural Ag Products Inc. Middlebury 364 (max) FW, YW ICI Windrow

1Calculations based on 1,000 lbs = 1 cy; 2FW = food waste, YW = yard waste, Res = Residential sources, ICI = Institutional, Commercial, and/or Industrial sources, SP =soiled paper, WCC = waxed corrugated cardboard, MB = Municipal Biosolids; 3Currently facing regulatory challenges that may preclude them from receiving food waste.Note: Additional information on facilities listed can be found at www.findacomposter.com.

BIOCYCLE SEPTEMBER

ONE OF the first food compostingfacilities in the U.S. was locatedin Freehold Township, New Jer-sey. The company, AmericanSoil, Inc. (ASI), started com-posting yard trimmings in 1988.In 1992, it received permission

from the New Jersey Department of Envi-ronmental Protection and Energy (now De-partment of Environmental Protection) torun a six month trial to compost food and pa-per from supermarkets and a food processor.

Ultimately, 1,200 tons of supermarketresiduals were composted successfully dur-ing the pilot, notes a 1994 article in BioCycle(“Supermarket Stream Added To Compost-ing Mix,” October 1994). Rob Young and hispartner, Patrick Kennedy, owners of ASI, be-gan pursuing a full permit for commercial or-ganics while the pilot was ongoing, and byAugust of 1993, it began receiving an aver-age of 10 tons/day from about 20 supermar-kets. The facility processed commercial or-ganics until 2000. Another commercialcomposting facility — Woodhue, which even-tually was bought out and became EasternOrganics — operated in New Jersey for anumber of years as well. It serviced super-markets and other food waste generators.That site closed several years ago.

Today, New Jersey has one compostingfacility receiving food waste from the su-permarket stream. Ag Choice LLC, in An-dover, services several ShopRite (Wake-fern Corporation) supermarkets. Itcomposts those organics with horse ma-nure; the site’s permitted capacity for foodwaste is 5,000 cubic yards/year. Recently,WeCare Organics, LLC, based in Jordan,New York, was awarded the contract tomanage the Burlington County, New Jer-sey’s biosolids composting facility. Whenoriginally conceived by Burlington Countymany years ago, the facility was going totake source separated commercial organicsas well as its core feedstocks, biosolids andground yard trimmings. The site uses theIPS agitated bay composting technology,

which would allow it to process commercialorganics separately from biosolids.

“The facility is permitted to accept or-ganic waste other than biosolids,” says Jef-frey LeBlanc, President of WeCare Organ-ics. “The site is undergoing retrofits andupgrades, and will be back in operation inmid-November 2008. We have excess ca-pacity for organic waste.”

COMPOSTING CAPACITYThe food composting experience in New

Jersey has been mirrored in other Northeastand Mid-Atlantic states over the past 15years. Private entrepreneurs have venturedinto and out of the field, such as Capital Com-post in the Albany, New York region. Theonly public jurisdiction in the region to investin a composting facility for MSW organicsduring this period is Delaware County, NewYork, which opened its mixed waste com-posting plant in 2006. It processes 24,000tons/year of mixed MSW, 6,500 tons ofbiosolids and 2,800 tons of organics from lo-cal dairy plants.

In short, few facilities — public or private— have opened with the capability to meetthe growing demand for organics diversion inthe Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Look-ing at the data collected for this survey, thereis about 300,000 tons of permitted processingcapacity for food waste in this region, notcounting colleges and universities. Two facil-ities —McGill-Sussex and Royal Oak Farm— represent 270,000 tons of that processingcapacity (that includes their capacity for oth-er organics processed). The Peninsula Com-post project in Wilmington, Delaware is ful-ly permitted and expected to open in May2009. That will add about 150,000 more tonsof annual capacity in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

For this national survey — which is ap-pearing in multiple parts over the next sev-eral months — BioCycle is using the U.S. En-vironmental Protection Agency’s regionalbreakdown of the states and territories (thereare 10 in total). EPA Regions 2 and 3 com-prise states in the Northeast and Mid-At-lantic. Region 2 also includes Puerto Rico andthe Virgin Islands. The only state within Re-gions 2 and 3 that does not have any foodwaste composting projects is West Virginia.

A total of 48 food waste composting pro-jects were identified in the Northeast andMid-Atlantic states. Three are in the permit-ting phase at this time (all farms) and are ex-pected to be taking food waste in the first halfof 2009, which is why they are included inthis report. As noted in last month’s surveyarticle (“BioCycle National Survey: NewEngland”), we are not listing facilities thatmanage food residuals from a single genera-tor, e.g., correctional facilities. We do includecolleges and universities, as this is one of thefastest growing sectors of food waste diver-sion in the country.

Table 1 provides a summary of food wastecomposting projects by sector. There are 23college and university projects, 9 on-farm

Secondinstallmentof BioCycleNational Surveyreports onfood wastecompostingfacilities andprojects in theNortheast andMid-Atlanticstates.

Cristina Olivares and Nora Goldstein

BIOCYCLE NATIONAL SURVEY: NORTHEAST, MID-ATLANTIC



BIOCYCLE SEPTEMBER 2008

sites, 14 commercial (private sector) facilities and 2 publicsector (one municipality and one county). Pennsylvania hasthe most facilities (21), followed by New York (15). Of thesites reporting annual tonnages composted (Table 2), 21 arein the 0 to 200 tons/year (tpy) range, 8 in the 200 to 1,000tpy category, 8 in the 1,000 to 5,000 tpy range and 6 over5,000 tpy. Not all projects provided an annual tonnage; fourof those were colleges/universities and were added into the0 to 200 tpy category.

Table 3 lists all the sites composting food waste in theNortheast and Mid-Atlantic states. It also should be notedthat there is a new facility — Converted Organics — in NewJersey that is permitted to process 78,000 tons/year of foodwaste. That site is not included in this survey as it utilizesan aerobic digestion technology.

COMPOSTER PERSPECTIVESThe Borough of Columbia in Lancaster County, Pennsyl-

vania recently completed a food waste composting pilot withthree public schools, a local market and a restaurant. Pre-consumer food waste was collected weekly over the course ofa year; a total of 100 tons of food waste were composted at theborough’s yard trimmings composting facility, which is lo-cated on a farm. “The pilot was very successful,” says RonMiller, Public Services Manager for Columbia. “It has creat-ed a lot of interest and there are much larger generators nowinterested in joining the program. We are applying for a Gen-eral Permit, which would allow us to take greater quantities.We have the capacity and the materials to mix with the foodwaste. And we know the process we used works well.”

The composting method developed starts with a dedicatedrow of freshly ground wood chips. A trench is formed in the topof the windrow and food waste is emptied into the furrow andcovered. “By the time we got to the end of a 200-foot row, wewould start over again by adding more wood chips and thenthe food waste,” explains Miller. “We would build the pile up

to four or five feet and thenlet it sit for a few days priorto turning the pile with ourtow-behind Wildcat turner.”

He adds that after tryingseveral different mixes, theborough had the most suc-cess with wood chipsground from tree trimmingsand other green waste. “Wehave a Peterson grinder,and started using the‘green’ wood chips, andadding the food waste tothose,” notes Miller. “Atremendous amount of heatis generated in the piles.”Based on their pilot experi-ence, he believes that theyard trimmings compostingsite could take on 10 to 12times the amount of food waste handled during the pilot us-ing the same amount of manpower and equipment. “Extracaution is needed when composting food waste versus onlyyard waste, as there is the added risk of vectors and odors.But the composting method we developed generated noleachate or odors and didn’t attract any vectors.”

At the other end of the spectrum, the source separated or-ganics composting facility being constructed in Wilmington,Delaware is going inside and under cover. Located in an in-dustrial area at the Port of Wilmington, the closest residenceis about a half-mile away. But given the volume of materi-als to be composted (the 500 tons/day includes food wastealong with amendments), Peninsula Compost did not wantto take chances with outdoor operations. “We are building a16,000 square foot tipping building with overhead doors,multiple air changes/hour and an engineered biofilter,” saysNelson Widell of Peninsula. “We will have a slow speedshredder inside, and then a picking line to remove plastic,and install magnets to remove metal. Material coming offthe picking line will be put into the GORE covered compost-ing system, where it will go through an 8-week process.”

Estimated capital cost for the plant is $25 million. The tip-ping fee for food waste will be in the $40/ton range; the feefor woody wastes will be in the $30/ton range. “Right now,we are targeting commercial and institutional organics fromthroughout the Delaware Valley area,” adds Widell. “We willaccept compostable products as well.”

A number of people contacted while conducting this sur-vey for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states noted thatthere is tremendous demand for composting services, butthat the process of getting sites permitted to receive thesematerials can be costly and drawn out. “It is not easy to getsites permitted,” says Mike Giuranna, Solid Waste Special-ist for USEPA Region III, which has been very supportive offood waste composting initiatives. “A facility that closed re-cently in Maryland was essentially told it needed to get awastewater permit for its storm water runoff. That is a veryexpensive undertaking.”

Some states, such as Pennsylvania, have been focusing ongetting farms permitted to take food waste. The state De-partment of Environmental Protection created an on-farmcomposting permit that allows farms to take up to 500tons/year of this organics stream. As encouragement, thispermit is designed to be easier to obtain than a General Per-mit (although the food waste quantity allowed is signifi-cantly less). See, “Connecting Food Scraps To SustainableAgriculture,” BioCycle July 2008.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)also is taking steps to streamline permitting of facilities to re-

Table 2. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic distribution of food waste compostingfacilities by size1

Food Waste Throughput (tons/year)State 0-200 2 200-1,000 1,000-5,000 5,000 plus

Delaware – – – 1Maryland – 1 – –New Jersey 1 – 1 1New York 7 3 2 1Pennsylvania 12 3 3 1Virginia 1 – 2 2Total 21 7 8 6

1Seven facilities did not report annual quantity of food waste composted. 2Collegesnot providing annual tonnage were counted in the 0-200 column.

Table 1. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic distribution of food waste compostingfacilities by sector


Delaware – – 1 –Maryland 1 – 1 –New Jersey 1 – 1 1New York 8 2 4 –Pennsylvania 12 5 3 1Virginia 1 2 3 –Total 23 9 13 2

Pilot project in the Borough ofColumbia, Pennsylvaniacollected food waste weeklyfrom several schools, a marketand a restaurant. Materialswere unloaded into a loaderbucket (above) and added to awindrow.

BIOCYCLE SEPTEMBER

Table 3. Food waste composting facility highlights in Northeast, Mid-Atlantic

Food Waste Tonnages 1 MaterialsState/Facility Name Location (annual unless noted) Composted 2 Source System

DelawarePeninsula Compost3 Wilmington 500 tons/day (design capacity) FW, YW, SP, WCC ICI Enclosed ASP (GORE)MarylandRecycled Green Industries, LLC Woodbine Pilot (in planning) FW, YW ICI WindrowUniversity of Maryland College Park 212 in 2007 FW ICINew Jersey4

Ag Choice, LLC Andover 5,000 (permitted capacity) FW, manure ICI WindrowBurlington County5 Florence 10,000 (FW and biosolids) FW, YW, MB ICI, MB In-Vessel (IPS)Montclair State University Montclair 15 tons of FW in 2007 FW ICI In-vessel (BW Organics)New YorkBard College Annandale-on- 500 (permitted capacity) FW, hay bales ICI Windrow

HudsonCayuga Compost Trumansburg 2,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, SP ICI, Res WindrowColumbia University Bronx 18 FW, YW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Greenway Environmental Services Newburgh 1,000 cy FW, YW ICI, Mun WindrowGround Effects, Inc. Memphis n/a FW, YW ICI Static PileHerkimer County Community College Herkimer 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Ithaca College6 Ithaca 357 tons of FW in 2006 FW ICI Aerated static pile (ASP)Lower East Side Ecology Center Manhattan 100 FW Res Windrow, vermicompostingMcEnroe Organic Farm Millerton 10,000 cy FW, SP ICI Enclosed ASP (Polyflex),

windrowMisty Hills Farm Troy n/a FW, YW ICI, Manure In-vessel (BW Organics),

vermicomposting,Rensselaer Polytech Institute Troy 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)SUNY Binghamton Binghamton n/a FW ICI Static pileSUNY Rockland Community College Suffern 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Union College Schenectady 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)WeCare Organics, LLC Jordan <3,000 FW, YW ICI Windrow

PennsylvaniaAgRecycle, Inc. Washington County 6,000 cy at any one time FW, YW, SP ICI Windrow

(all materials)Allegheny College Meadville 82.5 FW ICI In-vessel (Wright)Briar Patch Organic Farm Mifflinburg 3,000 cy FW, YW ICI WindrowColumbia Borough Columbia 100 (pilot) FW, YW ICI WindrowDelaware Valley College Doylestown n/a FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowDickinson College Carlisle 75 in 2007 FW, YW ICI WindrowFour Springs Farm Weisenberg Twp. 500 FW, YW ICI WindrowLafayette College Easton 2.6 FW ICI In-vesselLongwood Gardens Kennett Square 3,000 cy FW, YW ICI WindrowPenn State University State College 2000 in 2006 FW, YW ICI WindrowPennsylvania College of Technology Montgomery 3 (pilot) FW, YW ICI WindrowSchneebeli Earth Science Center

Red Earth Farm Orwigsburg Permitting phase FW, YW ICI WindrowSlippery Rock University Slippery Rock 17 in 2006 FW, YW ICI Windrow, vermicompostingSwarthmore College Swarthmore n/a FW, YW ICI n/aTait Farm Centre Hall 350 (permitting phase) FW, YW, manure ICI, Res n/aTwo Particular Acres Royersford 500 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, SP, WCC ICI Aerated Static PileUniversity of Pennsylvania Philadelphia 5.58 in 2007 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Villanova University Villanova n/a FW ICI Off-site to Two Particular AcresWestminster College New Wilmington 9 in 2006 FW ICI WindrowWilson College Chambersburg 8 in 2006 FW ICI WindrowZwicky Processing and Recycling Maidencreek Twp. n/a (pilot with schools) FW, YW ICI WindrowVirginiaBrookview Farm Manakin-Sabot 2,500 FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowMcGill-Sussex Facility Waverly 120,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, SP, WCC ICI Aerated static pilePoplar Manor Enterprises Riner 2,800 (permitting phase) FW, YW, Manure ICI WindrowRoyal Oak Farm, LLC Evington 150,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, SP, WCC ICI WindrowWashington & Lee University Lexington 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Watkins Nurseries, Inc. Midlothian n/a (services Ukrop’s

Super Markets) FW, YW ICI Windrow

1Calculations based on 1,000 lbs = 1 cy. 2FW = food waste, YW = yard waste, Res = Residential sources, ICI = Institutional, Commercial, or Industrial sources, SP =soiled paper, WCC = waxed corrugated cardboard, MB = Municipal Biosolids, Mun = Municipalities. 3Start-up expected May 2009. 4FW processing capacity in NJ in-cludes Converted Organics, an aerobic digestion plant designed to process 78,000 tons/year of FW. 5Start-up expected November 2008. 6Started diverting FW to CayugaCompost in 2008.

BIOCYCLE SEPTEMBER 2008

ceive food waste, says Craig Coker of CokerComposting & Consulting in Vinton, Vir-ginia. “Virginia regulators are very enthusi-astic about food waste diversion and are ac-tively looking to modify the regulations tofacilitate getting a permit without creatingany risk to the public health or the environ-ment,” says Coker, who is assisting PoplarManor Enterprises in Riner, Virginia to per-mit its farm to receive food waste. “If a siteis composting less than 2,800 tons/year ofcompostable food waste and bulking agent,they can get a permit by rule [PBR] desig-

nation, which is much less paperwork andmuch less costly than a full-blown permit.The facility still needs to meet the state’scomposting requirements.”

He adds that DEQ is considering raisingthe PBR limit from 700 tons/quarter to3,000 tons/quarter, or 12,000 tons/year.“They are doing this to encourage on-farmcomposting of food waste,” says Coker. “TheDEQ understands that the composting in-frastructure is so thinly spread that to getfood waste diversion in any quantity, theyneed to create capacity on farms.” �

BIOCYCLE OCTOBER 2008

IN MAY 2008, the Georgia Environ-mental Protection Division (EPD), incooperation with the Georgia RecyclingCoalition, The Coca-Cola Companyand US EPA Region 4, held a day-longworkshop titled “From the Table to theFarm: Options for Diverting Food from

Landfills.” The purpose of the workshop wasto explore options available for reducing theamount of food sent to landfills, includingsource reduction, procurement changes, foodrescue/donation and composting.

The workshop grew out of a stakeholdermeeting convened in November 2006 to ad-dress the fact that 12 percent — or morethan 800,000 tons — of the waste sent toGeorgia landfills each year is food waste, ac-cording to a statewide waste characteriza-tion study completed in 2005. This repre-sents the largest single category of solidwaste going into the state’s landfills. Ap-proximately 48 percent of this comes fromthe greater Atlanta area. The stakeholdergroup identified barriers to diverting foodwaste in metro Atlanta, discussed how toovercome the barriers and prioritized po-tential projects.

“More than 60 people representing hotels,K-12 schools, universities, governmentagencies, nonprofits, farms and businessesattended the workshop this past May,” saysStephanie Busch with EPD. “Topics coveredincluded food rescue, sustainable agricul-ture, purchasing locally grown organic foodand the greenhouse gas connection to or-ganics in the waste stream.”

EPD’s next step is to hold a series of facil-itated stakeholder meetings to review Geor-gia’s composting rules and recommend mod-ifications that could facilitate developmentof more processing infrastructure. Thosemeetings are expected to get underway thisfall, with recommendations completed bylate January. Developments in Georgia canbe tracked at EPD’s food waste webpage,www.gaepd.org/Documents/fwd.html.

Ohio is another state covered in this thirdinstallment of BioCycle’s National Survey offood waste composting facilities and pro-jects in the Southeast and Upper Midwest.Like Georgia, there have been a series ofstakeholder meetings and workshops inOhio to advance diversion of food waste fromlandfills, sponsored by the Ohio Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA), the OhioDepartment of Natural Resources (DNR),the Ohio Compost Association and The OhioState University. Ohio DNR has providedgrants to compost facilities and universitiesto facilitate food waste processing. OhioEPA set up a webpage — www.epa.state.oh.us/ocapp/food_scrap/index.html —where there is easy access to permitting re-quirements and regulations, as well as casestudies of existing projects.

As was discussed in last month’s surveyinstallment (focusing on the Northeast andMid-Atlantic states), regulations regardingfood waste composting play a huge role in astate’s infrastructure to process these or-

ganics. “We have noticed that the regula-tions are make or break deals as to whichstates have thriving programs, and whichdon’t,” observes Chris Newman, who worksin the Materials Management Branch at theUS EPA’s Region 5 office.

COMPOSTING PROJECTS IN THE SOUTHEASTThis national survey is appearing in mul-

tiple issues — August 2008 through Decem-

BIOCYCLE NATIONAL SURVEY: SOUTHEAST, UPPER MIDWEST



Third installment of BioCycle NationalSurvey reports on food waste composting

facilities and projects in the Southeastand Upper Midwest states.

Cristina Olivares and Nora Goldstein

Table 1. Southeast, Upper Midwest distribution of food waste composting facilities bysector


SoutheastFlorida 1 – – 1Georgia 1 1 2 1Kentucky 1 – – –North Carolina 7 2 5 –South Carolina 1 – – –Tennessee – – – 2

Subtotal 11 3 7 4

Upper MidwestIllinois 2 – 1 –Indiana 1 1 – –Michigan 1 1 1 2Minnesota 3 1 1 4Ohio 3 1 4 –Wisconsin 2 3 2 2

Subtotal 12 7 9 8

Total 23 10 16 12

ber 2008. Municipal, commercial and farm-based composting facilities processing foodwaste are included, along with colleges anduniversities. BioCycle is using the US EPA’sregional breakdown of the states and terri-tories (there are 10 regions in total). This ar-ticle reports on Regions 4 and 5. Region 4comprises the Southeast states; Region 5comprises the Upper Midwest states.

Table 1 summarizes the distribution offood waste composting facilities by sector inthe two regions. BioCycle editors identifiedfood waste composting projects in six of theeight Region 4 states (all but Alabama andMississippi). In the Southeast, there are 7commercial composters — 5 in North Car-olina and 2 in Georgia — and 4 municipalsites receiving food waste (one each in Flori-da and Georgia and 2 in Tennessee). Thereare 11 colleges and universities — 7 inNorth Carolina, and one each in Florida,Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina —and 3 farms composting food waste (1 inGeorgia and 2 in North Carolina).

In Region 5, the Upper Midwest, all 6states have food waste composting projects.Editors identified 9 commercial compostersaccepting food waste — 4 in Ohio, 2 in Wis-


Table 2. Southeast, Upper Midwest distribution of food waste composting facilities bysize1

Number of Sites Accepting (tons/year)State 0-200 2 200-1,000 1,000-5,000 5,000 plus

SoutheastFlorida 1 – 1Georgia 1 – 1 2Kentucky 1 – –North Carolina 7 1 – 2South Carolina 1 – – –Tennessee – – – –

Subtotal 11 1 2 4

Upper MidwestIllinois 2 – – 1Indiana 1 – 1Michigan 1 – 2 1Minnesota 2 – 1 6Ohio – 4 – 4Wisconsin 2 – 1 1

Subtotal 8 4 5 13

Total 19 5 7 17

1Thirteen facilities did not report annual quantity of food waste composted, 2Colleges not providing annu-al tonnage were counted in the 0-200 column.

Table 3. Food waste composting facility highlights – Southeast region

Food Waste Tonnages1 MaterialsState/Facility Name Location (annual unless noted) Composted2 Source System

FLORIDANew College of Florida University Sarasota 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Reedy Creek Improvement District Lake Buena Vista 4,587 FW ICI In-vessel (Wright Envtl)GEORGIABack to the Garden Inc. Athens n/a FW, YW, SP, manure ICI, Res Passive pilesCity of Valdosta Public Works Valdosta 8,016 FW, YW ICI Static PileCommunity Environmental Management Atlanta 4,974 FW, YW ICI WindrowGreenco3 Barnesville 12,480 (design capacity) FW ICI WindrowUniversity of Georgia Athens 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)KENTUCKYBerea College Berea 35 in 2006 FW ICI WindrowNORTH CAROLINAAppalachian State University Boone 70 FW, YW ICI Aerated static pileBrooks Compost Facility Goldston n/a FW, WCC, SP, manure ICI WindrowDuke University Durham n/a FW ICI Off-site to Brooks ContractorMcGill-Chatham Facility New Hill 100,000 (permitted capacity) FW, WCC, SP, YW, manure ICI Aerated static pileMcGill-Sampson Facility Rose Hill 100,000 (permitted capacity) FW, WCC, SP, YW, manure ICI Aerated static pileMeredith College Raleigh 75 FW ICI Off-site to Brooks ContractorNature’s Green-Releaf Franklinton n/a FW, WCC, YW ICI WindrowPiedmont BioFarm Pittsboro 12 FW, SP ICI In-vessel vermicomposterTri County Environmental Charlotte n/a FW, WCC, SP, YW, manure ICI Aerated windrowsUNC Asheville Asheville 18 FW, SP, YW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)UNC Chapel Hill Chapel Hill 428 FW ICI Off-site to Brooks ContractorUNC Charlotte Charlotte 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Wallace Farm, Inc. Huntersville n/a FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowWarren Wilson College Swannanoa 37 FW ICI GreenDrumSOUTH CAROLINAWinthrop University Rock Hill 10 FW, YW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)TENNESSEEKnox County Greenwaste Recycling Facility Knoxville n/a FW, SP, YW, manure ICI, Res WindrowSevier Solid Waste, Inc.4 Pigeon Forge n/a FW, WCC, SP, MB ICI, Res In-vessel, aerated windrow

1Calculations based on 1000 lbs = 1 cy, 2FW = food waste, YW = yard waste, Res = Residential sources, ICI = Institutional, Commercial, or Industrial sources, SP =soiled paper, WCC = waxed corrugated cardboard, MB = Municipal Biosolids, MSW = Municipal solid waste, 3Greenco to begin composting FW on October 1, 2008,4Compost facility closed due to fire; will begin operations again in Feb-Apr 2009, 5Tonnages listed for each facility are maximum daily amount allowed under annual OhioEPA license.

consin and one each in Illinois, Michigan andMinnesota — and 8 municipal sites com-posting food waste (4 in Minnesota and 2each in Michigan and Wisconsin). There are12 colleges and universities with projects —3 in Minnesota, 3 in Ohio, 2 in Illinois, 2 inWisconsin, one each in Indiana and Michi-gan — as well as 7 farms composting foodwaste (3 in Wisconsin, and one each in Indi-ana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio).

In Table 2, composting facilities were cat-egorized by size. There are 11 facilities inthe Southeast and 8 in the Upper Midwestin the 0 to 200 tons/year (tpy) range, 1 facil-

ity in the Southeast and 4 in the Upper Mid-west in the 200 to 1,000 tpy range, 2 facili-ties in the Southeast and 5 in the UpperMidwest in the 1,000 to 5,000 tpy range, andfinally 4 facilities in the Southeast and 13 inthe Upper Midwest receiving over 5,000 tpy.

Table 3 lists all commercial, municipal,farm and colleges/universities compostingfood waste in the Southeast. There are a to-tal of 25 projects. (Note that Greenco, inBarnesville, Georgia, was to begin compost-ing food waste October 1, 2008.) Table 4 liststhose in the Upper Midwest; total number ofprojects is 36. �


Table 4. Food waste composting facility highlights – Upper Midwest region

Food Waste Tonnages1 MaterialsState/Facility Name Location (annual unless noted) Composted2 Source System

ILLINOISLHF Compost, Inc. Peoria 60,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, manure ICI, Res Aerated windrowIllinois State University Farm Normal n/a FW ICI WindrowSouthern Illinois University Carbondale n/a FW ICI VermicompostingINDIANADepauw University Greencastle n/a (starting Fall 2008) FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Koetter & Smith Borden 2,500 FW, YW ICI, Res Static pileMICHIGANCity of Ann Arbor Ann Arbor 20,000 FW, YW ICI WindrowMackinac Island Public Works Mackinac Island 5 tons/day FW, YW ICI, Res Aerated static pileSpurt Industries Ada 2,500 (3 locations) FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowTuthill Farms & Composting, Inc. South Lyon n/a FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowUniversity of Michigan Ann Arbor 62 in 2006 FW ICI Off-site to city siteMINNESOTACollege of St. Scholastica Duluth 9.6 FW ICI Off-site to WLSSDCreekSide Soils Hutchinson 30,000 (permitted capacity) FW, YW, manure ICI, Res In-vessel, windrowPraireland Compost Facility Truman 17,500 FW, YW, MSW ICI, Res In-vesselRRT Empire Compost Facility Rosemount 50,000 (permitted capacity) FW, WCC, SP, YW ICI, Res Enclosed ASP (Versa),

WindrowRW Farms - Univ of Minnesota Arboretum Chanhassen 10,000 (permitted capacity) FW, SP, YW ICI, Res Static pile Swift County Environmental Services Benson 5,200 (permitted capacity) FW, YW ICI Aerated windrowUniversity of Minnesota - Duluth Duluth n/a FW ICI Off-site to WLSSDUniversity of Minnesota - Twin Cities St. Paul/Minneapolis 1,200 FW, SP ICI n/aWestern Lakes Superior Sanitary District Duluth 7,900 (permitted capacity) FW, YW ICI, Res Windrow(WLSSD)

OHIO3

Baldwin-Wallace College Berea 12/day FW, YW, SP ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Barnes Nursery, Inc. Huron 100/day FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure ICI WindrowHirzel Farms Pemberville 25/day FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure ICI Aerated static pilePaygro (Garick Corporation) South Charleston 100/day FW, YW, WCC, manure ICI In-vessel (Paygro)Price Farms Organics Delaware 75/day FW, YW, WCC, manure ICI WindrowSagamore Soils Hudson 12/day FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure ICI WindrowThe Columbus Academy Columbus 12/day FW, YW, SP ICI Aerated piles (bins)Youngstown State University Youngstown 12/day FW, SP, YW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)WISCONSINColombia County Co-composting Facility Portage 80 tons/day of MSW FW included in MSW ICI, Res In-vessel Green Earth Compost Products La Crosse n/a FW,YW, manure ICI WindrowsGrowing Power Milwaukee n/a FW ICI VermicompostingNorthland College Ashland 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Oneida County Solid Waste Department Oneida n/a FW ICI WindrowPheasant Run Composting (WM, Inc.) Bristol 1,000 FW, YW ICI, Res Windrow

50,000 (permitted capacity)Soil Solutions Co. and Braun Excavating Inc. Black Creek n/a (pilot) FW, YW, wood ash,

paper mill sludge ICI Windrow University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point n/a FW, YW ICI Windrow; Stevens Point vermicomposting (proposed)

White Oak Farm Premium Organics Oconomowoc n/a FW, YW ICI Windrow

1Calculations based on 1000 lbs = 1 cy, 2FW = food waste, YW = yard waste, Res = Residential sources, ICI = Institutional, Commercial, or Industrial sources, SP =soiled paper, WCC = waxed corrugated cardboard, MB = Municipal Biosolids, MSW = Municipal solid waste, 3Tonnages listed for each facility are maximum daily amountallowed under annual Ohio EPA license.

Like Georgia, therehave beenstakeholdermeetings andworkshops in Ohioto advance foodwaste diversion.

BIOCYCLE NOVEMBER 2008

THE Harvey County, Kansas land-fill closed in October 2001. Sincethat time, trash is hauled to a land-fill in Reno County, about 90 milesround trip from Harvey County’stransfer station. Residential, com-mercial and institutional waste

generators are charged a solid waste fee tocover transfer and disposal costs. The firstthree tons are accepted at $37; the remain-ing waste is $37/ton, plus the tipping fee of$28/ton at the transfer station.

Three years ago, the local Wal-Mart storedecided it wanted to reduce its solid wastecosts and began separating food waste to becomposted. The county composts biosolids,using sawdust as an amendment. “FromJune 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008, Wal-Martsent us 160 tons of food waste,” says RoyPatton, Harvey County Solid Waste Super-intendent. “They weren’t assessed the$37/ton solid waste fee, resulting in signifi-cant savings.”

The food waste is blended with sawdust,and added to existing windrows on the com-posting pad. The compost is used as covermaterial on the county’s C&D landfill, as wellas for final grading of the closed landfill. “Weplan to focus on schools and hospitals next forfood waste diversion,” adds Patton. “We’veapproached them in the past, but they felt itwasn’t economical. Now, having an examplelike Wal-Mart — showing what they are sav-ing each year in solid waste fees — shouldhave an impact on their decision.”

STATS FOR CENTRAL,ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONS

BioCycle’s National Survey of food wastecomposting facilities and projects is beingconducted region by region across the U.S.This month’s survey article — the fourth inour series — covers states in the Central andRocky Mountain regions. BioCycle is usingthe USEPA’s regional breakdown of states toreport our data findings. States covered hereare in USEPA Regions 6, 7 and 8. The finalarticle in this series, to appear in the De-cember 2008 issue of BioCycle, coversUSEPA Regions 9 and 10 — the westernstates along with Hawaii and Alaska.

Municipal, commercial and farm-basedcomposting facilities processing food wasteare included in this survey, along with col-

leges and universities. There are 15 states inthe three EPA regions; BioCycle identifiedfood waste composting projects in 11. Table1 summarizes the distribution of food wastecomposting facilities by sector. There are 16commercial composters, 11 municipal pro-jects, 7 college and university sites and 2farms that are involved with food waste com-posting. Only 14 projects provided foodwaste tonnage data (Table 2). Of those, 7process under 200 tons/year (this includessome pilot projects) and 6 process over 5,000tons/year. Fifteen projects indicated thatthey were not under any regulatory restric-tion regarding the quantity of food wasteprocessed annually, however they didn’t re-port current tonnages composted.

Table 3 lists all commercial, municipal,farm and colleges/universities compostingfood waste in the Central and Rocky Moun-tain states. Unlike the other regions coveredto date, many more municipal projects — 11of the 36 — were discovered. In Texas, for ex-ample, the cities of McAllen, Plano and Wi-chita Falls all compost food waste along withyard waste. Plano and Wichita Falls includemanure and soiled paper in their mix. InIowa, the City of Dubuque composted 104tons of food waste in 2007. The city offers res-idential curbside collection to a portion of itshouseholds. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the LinnCounty Solid Waste Agency composted100,000 tons of food waste, yard trimmingsand brush/wood in 2007. Residents have a“Yardy” cart set out weekly for collection andare allowed to include fruit, vegetable peel-ings, coffee grounds, tea bags and soiled pa-per along with their yard trimmings and gar-den wastes.

In the August (New England), September(Northeast, Mid-Atlantic) and October(Southeast, Upper Midwest) survey articles,there was a much higher number of collegeand university projects (17, 23 and 11, re-spectively) than those listed in Table 3 (totalof 7). In fact, in the Southeast and UpperMidwest regions, more college and universi-ty projects were identified than any othersector (23 out of 48 total projects). Interest-ingly, farms were the leading category of

Fourthinstallment ofBioCycleNational Surveyreports on foodwastecompostingfacilities andprojects in theCentral andMountain states.

Cristina Olivaresand Nora Goldstein

BIOCYCLE NATIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL, MOUNTAIN


Table 1. Central, Mountain distribution of food waste composting facilities by sector


Arkansas – – – 1Colorado 2 1 3 –Iowa 2 – 1 3Kansas 1 – – 2Missouri 1 1 4 –Montana – – – 1New Mexico – – 2 –South Dakota – – – 1Texas – – 5 3Utah 1 – – –Wyoming – – 1 –Total 7 2 16 11


Table 2. Central, Mountain distribution of food waste composting facilities by size1

Food Waste Throughput (tons/year)State 0-200 200-1,000 1,000-5,000 5,000 plus

Arkansas 1 – – –Colorado 2 – – 1Iowa 3 – – 2Kansas 1 – – –Montana – – – 1South Dakota – – – 1Texas – – – 1Utah – 1 – –Total 7 1 – 6

Table 3. Food waste composting facility highlights — Central, Mountain Regions


ArkansasCity of Fayetteville Fayetteville 50 (pilot) FW, YW ICI WindrowColoradoA1 Organics 4 locations3 145,000 FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure ICI, Res WindrowCacaloco Compost Carbondale n/a FW, YW, MB, manure ICI, Res Static pileColorado College Colorado Springs 18 FW ICI In-vesselTeague Enterprises Fort Morgan n/a FW,YW, sludges, manure ICI WindrowUniversity of Colorado Boulder 118 FW, SP, WCC, YW ICI Off-site to Western Disposal,

A1 OrganicsWestern Disposal, Inc.4 Boulder n/a FW, YW, wood ICI, Res WindrowIowaChamness Technology Eddyville 115,000 FW, YW, SP, MB, manure ICI WindrowCity of Dubuque Dubuque 104 FW, YW, SP ICI, Res WindrowIowa City Landfill Iowa City 104 FW, YW ICI Windrow, passive pilesIowa State University Ames n/a5 FW ICI WindrowLinn County Solid Waste Agency Cedar Rapids 100,000 (all materials) FW, YW ICI, Res WindrowUniversity of Iowa Iowa City 15 FW ICI Off-site to Iowa City LandfillKansasCity of Olathe Olathe One year trial with school FW, YW ICI WindrowHarvey County Newton 160 FW, MB, sawdust ICI WindrowKansas State University Manhattan 6-month trial with cafateria FW, YW ICI WindrowMissouriBFC Composting Co Perryville n/a6 FW, manure ICI In-vessel, static pile Black Oak Organics LLC Verona n/a6 FW, WCC, SP, YW ICI Windrow, static pileLincoln University Jefferson City n/a6 FW, manure ICI In-vesselMissouri Organic Kansas City n/a6 FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure ICI WindrowRoute 66 Landscape Supply Center Pacific n/a6 FW, YW, manure ICI In-vessel, static pileWindswept Worm Farm Kansas City n/a6 FW, manure ICI, Res VermicompostingMontanaWest Yellowstone Compost Facility West Yellowstone 5,000 (total capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure ICI, Res In-vesselNew MexicoBiogrind Ruidoso n/a6 FW, YW, manure ICI Windrow, static pileSoilutions Albuquerque n/a6 FW, YW, SP, manure ICI Passive pilesSouth DakotaRapid City Material Recovery Facility Rapid City 54,000 (all materials) FW, SP, WCC, MB, MSW ICI, Res Rotary drums, in-vesselTexasDiscount Materials Midland n/a6 FW, YW, SP, manure ICI Windrow, passive pile, static pileCity of McAllen Composting Facility McAllen n/a6 FW, YW ICI, Res Aerated windrowNature's Way Resources Conroe n/a6 FW, YW, SP, manure ICI, Res Static pileNew Earth San Antonio n/a6 FW, YW, manure ICI, Res Windrow, passive pile, static pileCity of Plano/Texas Pure Products Plano n/a6 FW, YW, SP, manure ICI Windrow, passive pile, static pileTexas Disposal Systems Austin/San Antonio 13,000 FW, YW, SP, MB ICI, Res Windrow, static pileVital Earth Resources Big Sandy n/a6 FW, YW, manure ICI In-vessel, windrow Wichita Falls Organics Recycling Wichita Falls n/a6 FW, YW, SP, manure ICI, Res Aerated windrowUtahBrigham Young University Provo 215 FW ICI WindrowWyomingTerra Firma Jackson Pilot FW, YW ICI Windrow

1Calculations based on 1,000 lbs = 1 cy; 2FW = food waste, YW = yard waste; Res = Residential sources, ICI = Institutional, Commerical, or Industrial sources, SP = soiledpaper, WCC = waxed corrugated cardboard, MB = Municipal Biosolids, MSW = Municipal solid waste; 3A1 Organics has composting sites in Eaton, Platteville, Golden andKeenesburg, Colorado; 4Majority of current volume (8,500 tons/year) is yard waste and wood waste, but food waste volumes expected to grow substantially in 2009 withrecent adoption of residential compostables collection by both city of Boulder and Boulder County; 5Food waste composting to begin in Fall 2008; 6No specified permit lim-it on quantity of food waste allowed to accept.


food waste composters in New England (18), whereas in theCentral and Mountain regions, only 2 farms were identified.

TWIST ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTAll three previous survey articles reported that state per-

mitting and regulatory requirements are a significant hurdleto establishing food waste composting projects. While hurdlesmay exist in some states in the Central and Mountain regions,they are not the reason for a lack of infrastructure in Kansas,says Ken Powell with the Kansas Department of Health &Environment’s Solid Waste Facilities Unit. “Permitting-wise,the only difference between our yard waste composting andfood waste composting permits is the need for an engineer tostamp the plans,” explains Powell. “That costs $3,000 to$5,000. In our state, the issue is infrastructure. Sites don’thave the equipment, a large enough pad and/or the dry ma-terial to mix in with the food waste. If we can ever get a full-scale project off the ground here and show people how it canbe done, I don’t think composting sites will stop after that.”

Recently, Powell was contacted by a large hospital systemand a large retail operation about composting food wastefrom their facilities. “The hospital was looking at divertingmaterial system-wide, while the retailer was looking main-ly at its grocery and garden shop waste. After several years

of encouraging composting facilities in the state to take foodwaste, it looks like the real driver may be the generators.”

The City of Olathe, Kansas has a pilot program that is ex-pected to become permanent in 2009. The secondary schoolsand a number of the elementary schools in the city are in-volved in the pilot. All food is prepared in a central kitchenand then sent out to all the schools. Kitchen prep waste fromthe central kitchen is being composted with yard waste atthe city’s facility, which processes 12,000 tons/year of yardtrimmings. “To conduct a pilot project, all a facility has to dois write a letter saying what they are planning, and give thestate assurance that it will take the steps necessary to prop-erly manage the food waste,” says Powell.

He adds that facility operators are reluctant to compostfood waste, citing odor concerns. “A lot of sites handlearound 1,000 tons/year of yard waste. They don’t have muchequipment or personnel — things that go with a bigger sitethat would take this material.”

Like other states, e.g., Ohio, Georgia and Massachusetts,Kansas plans to hold workshops for food waste generatorsand composters in 2009. “We need to connect the city, coun-ty and private composting facilities with the grocery chains,schools, food service operations, hospitals and others so thatboth sides are talking to each other,” notes Powell. �

BIOCYCLE undertook a nationalsurvey of composting sites pro-cessing food residuals in the sum-mer of 2008. It was decided toconduct the survey by regions,starting with New England. The

states were grouped by the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) re-gions. The first survey report ran in theAugust 2008 issue of BioCycle. This fifthand final report focuses on the Western re-gion of the United States (EPA Regions 9and 10).

The need to conduct the survey and pub-lish the findings resulted from the surge ofinterest on the part of generators of food-based materials to switch from disposal torecovery via composting and anaerobic di-gestion. There also has been a boom in col-lege and corporate campuses wanting to ei-ther manage cafeteria food scraps on-siteor divert them to a composting facility. Rec-ognizing that food waste comprises a sig-nificant portion of MSW being disposedand is a source of landfill-generatedmethane, municipalities, states and theUSEPA have made its diversion and recov-ery a top priority.

The first place examined for food wastecomposting facility information waswww.findacomposter.com, BioCycle’s pub-licly searchable database of compostingprojects in the U.S. and Canada. Next, Bio-Cycle editors contacted the organics coordi-nators at USEPA’s 10 regional offices, aswell as organics recycling staff at state sol-id waste agencies. Their assistance is great-ly appreciated.

The following sectors are included in theBioCycle National Survey of Food Com-posting Infrastructure: Municipal, Com-mercial, On-Farm and University. Not in-cluded are facilities established solely tomanage food residuals from a single gener-ator, e.g., an industrial facility processingits own material, a farm-based operationservicing a single generator in a communi-ty (typically a food processor), or correc-tional facilities. Colleges and universitiesare included as this is one of the fastestgrowing sectors of food waste diversion inthe country.

WESTERN STATESFood waste composting projects were

identified in six of the eight states in the

Western region — Alaska, Arizona, Califor-nia, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Noprojects were found in Hawaii and Idaho inthe sectors surveyed. Table 1 provides abreakdown of the 72 projects identified: 23colleges and universities, 4 farm-based op-erations, 35 commercial composters and 10municipalities accepting food waste at theircomposting facilities. Table 2 reports on thesize of the projects, where that informationwas provided. There are 24 projects in the0 to 200 tons/year (tpy) range, 6 taking be-tween 200 and 1,000 tpy, 6 in the 1,000 to5,000 tpy range, and 19 processing over5,000 tpy. In some cases, these tonnages re-flect all materials processed at the sites, notjust food waste.

Table 3 lists all the sites composting foodwaste in the Western region in the sectorsthat were surveyed. More details on theseprojects, as well as the ones listed in thefirst four survey articles (running sequen-tially from the August 2008 issue of BioCy-cle through December 2008), can be foundat www.findacomposter.com.

NATIONAL SUMMARYThe BioCycle survey identified 267 food

waste composting projects in the UnitedStates. The statistics break out as follows:Colleges/universities — 93; Farms — 43;Commercial composters — 92; and Munici-pal — 39. Sorting the data by region, theWest leads with 72, followed by New Eng-land (51) and Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (47).The Upper Midwest and the Central/Moun-tain regions each have 36. The Southeasthas the fewest projects (25). �

This fifth andfinal installmentof BioCycleNational Surveyreports on foodwastecompostingfacilities in theWestern states.

Cristina Olivares, Nora Goldstein and

Rhodes Yepsen

BIOCYCLE NATIONAL SURVEY: WEST


Table 1. Western distribution of food waste composting facilities by sector


Alaska – – – 2Arizona – 1 – 1California 14 – 16 4Nevada – – 2 1Oregon 2 2 8 –Washington 7 1 9 2Total 23 4 35 10

Table 2. Western distribution of food waste composting facilities by size 1

Food Waste Throughput (tons/year)State 0-200 200-1,000 1,000-5,000 5,000 plus

Alaska – – – –Arizona – – 1 –California 13 2 3 10Nevada – – 1 2Oregon 4 3 1 1Washington 7 1 – 6Total 24 6 6 19

1Sites not reporting tonnages were not included in this table, with the exception of non-reporting univer-sities, which were categorized as 0-200 tons of FW/yr.

BIOCYCLE DECEMBER 2008

BIOCYCLE DECEMBER 2008

Table 3. Food waste composting facility highlights — Western Region


AlaskaGustavus Disposal & Recyc. Cntr. Gustavus n/a FW, YW Res, ICI Static pileHaines Sanitation Haines n/a FW, MB, MSW Res, ICI In-vessel,windrowArizonaPinetop Lakeside Sanitary District Lakeside 1,800 (permitted cap.) FW, WCC, SP, MB, manure Res, ICI Rotary drum, ASPSingh Farms LLC Scottsdale n/a FW, YW WindrowCaliforniaAgri Service Inc. Coachella Valley n/a FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowCalifornia Bio-Mass, Inc. Victorville 9,500 FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI WindrowCalifornia Bio-Mass, Inc. Thermal 600 FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI WindrowCal Poly San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo 200 (est.) FW ICI WindrowChabot College Hayward n/a FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Chico State Chico n/a FW, YW ICI WindrowCold Creek Compost Inc. Ukiah 50,000 (max FW/yr) FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI Windrow, ASPCommunity Recycling & Res. Recov. Lamont 44,304 (max capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI WindrowCSU Monterey Monterey n/a FW ICI n/aEngel & Grey Santa Barbara Pilot (<2500 tons) FW, MB, ag waste ICI WindrowGrover Landscape Services, Inc. Vernalis 1,500 FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowHumboldt State University Arcata 2.64 FW ICI n/aJepsen Prairie Organics Vacaville 109,500 (max FW/yr) FW, YW, WCC, manure Res, ICI Windrow, ASPKochergen Farms Composting, Inc. Avenal 312,000 (total capacity) FW, YW ICI WindrowLiberty Composting, Inc. Lost Hills 2,000/day (all material) FW, YW, MB ICI ASPMarin Sanitary Services Marin Pilot FW ICI In-vessel (ECS)Mariposa County Mariposa 18,000 FW, YW, MSW Res, ICI In-vessel (ECS)Miramar Landfill Compost Facility San Diego 10,000 (max FW/yr) FW, SP, YW ICI WindrowCity of Modesto Modesto n/a FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowNewby Island Compost Facility San Jose (Milptas) n/a FW, YW ICI ASPPoint Loma Nazarene University San Diego n/a FW, YW ICI n/aPomona College Pomona n/a FW, YW ICI WindrowSan Francisco State San Francisco n/a FW, YW ICI n/aSanta Cruz County Public Works Watsonville 2,500 (max FW/year) FW, YW, WCC, manure ICI ASPSonoma Compost Company Petaluma n/a FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowSouth Valley Organics Gilroy 117,000 (all material) FW, YW, WCC, Res, ICI Enc. ASP (Ag Bag)Stanford University Palo Alto 67.5/month FW, YW, SP ICI off-site to composterTulare Co. Compost & Biomass, Inc. Tulare Pilot FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowUniversity of California 5 campuses3 n/a FW, YW ICI n/aZ-Best Composting Gilroy 350/day (all material) FW, YW, MSW Res, ICI Enc. ASP (CTI), windrowNevadaA1 Organics Nevada LLC Las Vegas 10,000 cy/month (all mat.) FW, YW, SP, WCC, manure Res, ICI Windrow, static pileFull Circle Compost Minden 25,000 (total capacity) FW, YW Res, ICI Windrow, vermicompostCity of West Wendover West Wendover 3,600 (all material) FW, YW, MSW Res, ICI Rotary drum, aerated wind.OregonColumbia Ridge Organic Fruit Comp. Hood River 5604 FW, manure, sawdust ICI WindrowGrimm’s Fuel Company Tualatin 284 4 FW, YW, manure ICI, Res Static pileLane Forest Products Eugene n/a 4 FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowModoc Orchards White City 7,852 4 FW, YW, manure ICI WindrowNature’s Needs North Plains 438 4 FW, YW Res, ICI Enc. ASP (Ag Bag), wind.NW Environmental & Recycling Cornelius 1354 FW, YW Res, ICI Static pileOregon State University Corvallis n/a FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Processing & Recovery Center Corvallis n/a 4 FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowRexius Eugene n/a 4 FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI ASPUniversity of Oregon Eugene 18 FW ICI In-vessel (Earth Tub)Waste Pro Composting Facility La Grande 100 4 FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowWoodwaste LLC (Compost Oregon) Aumsville 1,477 4 FW, YW Res, ICI WindrowWashingtonCedar Grove Composting Everett 220,000 (total capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP Res, ICI In-vessel (GORE), ASPCedar Grove Composting Maple Valley 334,000 (total capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP Res, ICI In-vessel (GORE), ASPGreen Earth Technology Lynden n/a FW, YW Res In-vessel LRI/Compost Factory Pullman n/a FW ICI ASPLenz Enterprises Stanwood n/a FW, YW, SP, manure Res, ICI ASPNatural Selection Farm Sunnyside 20,000 (total capacity) FW, YW ICI WindrowNorth Mason Fiber Company Belfair 56,000 (all material) FW, YW ICI ASPPierce County Recyc./Comp./Dispos. Puyallup 11,367 (total capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI ASPSaint Martin’s College Lacey n/a FW, YW ICI Off-site to composterSeattle Pacific University Seattle 25 FW, YW ICI In-vessel, static pileSequalichew Creek Earthworks Fort Lewis 560 FW, YW, manure Res, ICI ASPSilver Spring Organics LLC Rainier 120,000 (total capacity) FW, YW, WCC, SP, manure Res, ICI ASPSkagit Soils Inc Mount Vernon n/a FW, YW, SP Res, ICI Windrow, static pileSoil Life Systems Burbank n/a FW n/a n/aSouth Puget Sound Comm. College Olympia n/a FW, YW ICI In-vessel & sent off-siteThe Evergreen State College Olympia n/a FW, YW ICI In-vesselUniversity of Washington Seattle n/a FW, YW ICI Off-site to composterWashington State University Pullman 175 FW, YW, SP, manure ICI Windrow, static pileWestern WA University (WWU) Bellingham n/a FW, YW ICI Off-site to composter1Calculations based on 1,000 lbs = 1 cy; 2FW = food waste, YW = yard waste; Res = Residential sources, ICI = Institutional, Commercial, or Industrial sources, SP = soiled paper, WCC = waxed corrugatedcardboard, MB = Municipal Biosolids, MSW = Municipal solid waste, ECS = Engineered Compost Systems; 3Davis, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, LA, San Diego; 4Can receive unlimited amounts of FW by permit