Compost: Yes in My Backyard!

Linda Norris-Waldt
Executive Director
 
A little over a month ago, I testified in an appeals hearing in my own home county of Frederick County, MD, about the benefits of our local, privately -owned compost facility—and compost and composting. Our planning commission’s approval of the facility’s expansion was appealed to our Zoning Board by residents who had built homes years after the facility opened and was permitted. As advocates, we were anxious about the future of the facility. Fortunately, the Planning Commissions’ approval stood, with some modifications by Compost Crew, the owners, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
 
But there is nothing like being in a contentious situation in your own neighborhood to remind me of what so many others of our members have had to endure as you sought to open or expand an operation. Indeed, Florida member Indianhead Biomass is going through the same issue at this very moment, and many of you have heard that a NIMBY issue in Texas has seriously impacted the future of compost facilities in the state.
 
I’ve run into the term “whole of government strategies” for other all-encompassing issues that governments and organizations face. This strategy has previously been used by USCC in how we approached PFAS, providing resources for members, engaging in federal lobbying, and now state strategies that must be present in all of our programs.
 
This year USCC staff will be looking at NIMBYism through an all-program lens, after the USCC Board directed us to tackle top risk issues in our Strategic Plan (see the just-passed 2025-2028 plan here). Some of the areas for opportunity:
 
·  REFRESHING local governments and policymakers on the benefits of compost and composting operations. One of my theories is that as the compost industry has expanded our footprint through numerous new programs and facilities resulting from four successful years of grant funding availability, we are now encountering citizens and elected officials new to composting, whom we must inform about the benefits and realities of compost operations of all sizes. We are currently working to choose a marketing agency (funded by our Corporate Compost Leadership Council—thank you!) to help us create and launch a National Compost Awareness Campaign, first in a region and then nationally, targeted at Millennials and Gen Z. 
 
·  ASSEMBLING more easily -available scientific research and experts who can testify in planning and zoning hearings to refute such claims as cancer, respiratory disease, water pollution, odor, and other issues commonly brought up by compost facility opposition. We faced these in our own local hearing. Many experts we have relied upon in the past are retiring or are barred from being involved by new government restrictions impacting universities.
 
·  COACHING entrepreneurs in the early stages of conceiving of facilities to be trained through the Compost Research and Education Foundation’s training programs; expanding the reach of our own Certification Program which provides CCOMs and CCPS the credibility they need in these situations; and encouraging reading and use of our Good Neighbor Zoning Toolkit and Model Zoning Ordinance Template, and for community composters, The Model Municipal Ordinance on Advancing Community Composting, before beginning the process of buying land, applying for permits, and starting the public process.
 
·  BEST (GOOD) MANAGEMENT PRACTICES must be taught through training and provided to all compost facilities regardless of feedstock, system, size, or geography, to demonstrate that well-run facilities are beneficial to local economies. USCC and CREF have launched (and are raising funds for) the writing of the 2026 GMP Field Guide (see more here to provide these to facilities and regulators).
 
Pulling this all together will require work by our whole organization—our policy program, certification program, CREF, marketing and communications program, and compost use strategies. If you have other ideas of the needs of our members to address planning, zoning, and neighbor obstacles, please reach out to me! I’m listening. lnorriswaldt@compostingcouncil.org