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 From the Top of the Pile
Linda Norris-Waldt
Executive Director
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, it seemed news reports were everywhere about the downsides of AI and machine learning. Whether or not you agree, it does seem that one thing that is still left over from the Covid years (and further exacerbated by the non-human nature of artificial intelligence) is a continued “craving for connection,” as our membership coordinator, Ksenia, puts it.
USCC’s Member Needs Survey, which we do every other year (you have an extra three weeks to take it), has some interesting early trends—and one of them is a real wish to have personal interactions in our industry. This makes sense, because we are not a white-collar trade. We succeed in the field, through talking to each other and sharing what works and what fails. This is why we’re so excited about our new MEMBER CONNECT program, which you should have heard about by now. Our staff pondered the need to create real interaction across the country, which is so hard when we are a national organization. We wanted to provide better support for, and real-time awareness of, our chapters and their activities and to our members in states where we don’t yet have chapters. The Board of Directors liked this idea and suggested we follow EPA regions.
USCC NEWS
Ksenia Dobbs
Member Services Coordinator
I am thrilled to introduce our first four Regional Representatives as part of our newly launched Member Connect program. This initiative is designed to strengthen relationships between USCC staff and members across the country by creating a direct, dedicated link within each region.
Click below to learn more about the representatives for Regions 1 through 4: Sam Dixon, Emma Singleton, Teri Sorg-McManamon, and myself, Ksenia!
With so many competing priorities at a compost facility, safety isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, maintaining a safe operation to protect yourself and your team must remain a constant commitment. In this webinar, you’ll hear from peers about their safety practices and walk away with practical steps you can use at your site. Let’s learn from each other and make sure we all make it home for the holidays.
The webinar will take place on Friday, December 19, at 3:00 PM (EST). Don't miss this lineup of industry experts, with decades of combined experience in composting industry safety standards!
Landrum Ellis, Environmental Health & Safety Manager at SiteOne Landscape Supply
Rita Meiergerd, Environmental Health & Safety Manager at McGill Environmental Services
Erin Skelly, Compost Operations Manager at Dakota Prairie Composting
Matt Cotton, Owner of Integrated Waste Management Consulting, as your moderator!
The US Composting Council (USCC)’s new executive board, which is seated on January 1, 2026, includes a change of leadership, with Chris Seney, of Republic Services, taking the helm as the organization’s new president. He follows Jennifer Trent of the Iowa Waste Reduction Center, who served two terms as president.
Other board members include:
Travis Bahnsen of A1 Organics of Colorado, continuing in his role as Vice President. Travis has served on the Board since 2023.
Samantha Winkle of Athens Services will be continuing her role as Treasurer. Samantha will be in her sixth year serving on the Board of Directors.
Lorrie Rossiter of ERTH Products Inc. will be newly stepping into the Secretary role, in which Seney served the previous year. Lorrie will begin her fourth year in her current board service and has served as president of USCC previously.
Most COMPOST2026 attendees will find that their schedules are so packed with eye-opening programming and endless opportunities for connecting with other composters that there isn't time for much else! But, if you’re attending COMPOST2026 and you notice you do have some free time, you’ll find yourself in the heart of Downtown Sacramento with lots to explore.
Click below to learn about the exciting things to see and do during your trip to Sacramento, as well as logistics for travel and lodging!
The US Composting Council proudly counts many constituencies as part of its membership, and one of those is sellers, manufacturers, and distributors of compostable packaging. Our members in this category, which represents about 1.5% of our membership by count, for decades have contributed with their time, talent, and treasure to the compost industry and continue to do so.
The USCC Board of Directors worked together to complete this stance, which has actually been the informal position of the US Composting Council for decades. It has never been put into writing, however, and is now a formal position of USCC, adopted in November 2025. Click below to read the stance on the USCC website!
ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY BRIEFS
Chris Snow
Director of Public Policy
While manning the USCC’s booth at the recent Annual American Society of Landscape Architects Conference in New Orleans, I was fortunate to meet Lizette Avineri and learn about a project that she had done with Compost Power, a New York City-based organization that builds accessible, sustainable compost sites across NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority) campuses to empower local communities through education, job training, and mentorship.
Lizette is an artist and a recent graduate of the Masters of Landscape Architecture program at the City College of New York. Lizette was commissioned to develop a series of artwork banners for Compost Powers’ River Street Composting Facility in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn that teach neighbors and passersby about the compost process and the healthy soil benefits of composting.
The 2025 Public Policy report is now released on the USCC website! This report serves as a concise overview of the 2024-25 legislative cycle.
This year’s Report focuses on state and federal legislation, policies, and strategies that affected USCC members from summer 2024 through the 2025 legislative season, from Extended Producer Responsibility bills in MD/CO to shifting federal policy on PerFluoroAlkyl Substances (PFAS). The legislative season is formally January through June, when most state legislatures are in session, though previous Q3 and Q4 activity is included.
COMPOST USEGlobal Compost Advocates Celebrate World Soil Day 2025, Promoting "Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities"
Soil took center stage on December 5, as soil and compost advocates around the world rallied to celebrate World Soil Day 2025. Led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, this year’s theme, “Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities,” highlights the vital role soil plays in creating greener, more resilient, and livable cities, improving public health, and fighting climate change.
Soils are essential for life on earth, intimately involved in nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas regulation, and water cycles—making them baseline infrastructure for sustainability, both in our cities as well as rural communities. They serve as the planet’s largest terrestrial carbon pool and provide a home for approximately 59% of global biodiversity, facts that underscore their role as the living foundation of ecosystems.
STATE CHAPTER NEWS
A bipartisan group of three North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) members journeyed to southern Chatham County on November 6 to see the Brooks Contractor compost facility, which is the second largest outdoor composting facility in North Carolina and has been in operation for over three decades, with three generations of Brooks family involvement. Legislators included Representative Mark Brody (R Anson/Union), Senator Natalie Murdock (D-Durham/Chatham), and Senator Chris Measmer (R Cabarrus).
The NCGA delegation was joined by North Carolina Composting Council Board President Muriel Williman and the tour was led by Amy Fulford, Facilities Manager at Brooks and former NCCC Board Member. Legislators learned firsthand about the importance of composters and the benefits of compost in supporting local farms, reducing food waste in landfills, flood and drought protection, and the creation of good jobs.
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
Have new or innovative composting ideas you want to explore in the new year? Join us for a brainstorming session and to learn more about how the Emerging Composter Challenge could help turn your ideas into reality in 2026.
Date: Thursday, January 8th
Time: 5pm EST
Register by clicking here or by clicking the button below.
We are thrilled to highlight Sky Pisarski as December’s YP of the Month! Sky is currently a student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Sky is currently a junior studying Soil and Waste Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. While at college, Sky helps to process her campus’ food waste through serving as the Vice President of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Waste Management Society.
We are excited to spotlight Mandi Nguyen this month as part of the new USCC YP Educator Spotlight program!
Mandi currently works at AHRC where she teaches adults with development disabilities at two daycares in the Bronx (in New York City). At the daycares, Mandi has built two small-scale compost operations and oversees food scrap collection in the kitchens, ensures proper sorting and safe storage of feedstocks, collects food scraps from nearby businesses, and processes food scraps every week. At the daycares, she creates lessons and leads daily compost educational sessions for groups of adults with varying disabilities. Mandi’s lessons are focused on environmental justice and food sovereignty, ranging from thoughtful discussions on food and waste equity soil health activities to practical and more physical lessons. One of Mandi’s favorite memories while educating groups is seeing their smiling faces as they use tools to compost for the very first time.
Are you a passionate young professional looking to connect with like-minded individuals in the composting industry? Look no further! We invite you to join our vibrant and engaging Slack community.
By joining our Slack, you'll have the opportunity to:
It's easy to get started! Simply click the button below to join our Slack community and start connecting with fellow Young Professionals today. MEMBER NEWS
USCC member NOPE Compost is partnering with the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority (CVWMA) to expand its compost drop-off program across the region. The expansion is taking place in Chesterfield and Henrico Counties, as well as in the City of Richmond.
The new drop-off locations in Chesterfield and Henrico Counties will be located both in recycling convenience centers and in public-use locations. The drop-off program in Richmond began three years ago, and this expansion is a testament to the program’s success.
The Institute for Local Self Reliance (ISLR) has awarded $370,000 in grants to composters working to expand composting access in underserved communities. The grants were available to composters working across coastal New England and New York City.
ILSR hosted the inaugural Composting for Community Mini-Grants in 2024 as a pilot program. In this second year of the grant the program, the opportunity grew and was expanded to include projects in New York City. Thirty-seven recipients received grants of $10,000. Click below to learn more about the grant program and its recipients!
Corporate Compost Leadership Council member Nespresso has donated 100,000 pounds of compost generated from their spent coffee pods to Los Angeles-based nonprofit City Plants LA. The donation is the next phase of Nespresso’s Grounds to Grow LA project, which works to divert waste from landfills and return nutrients to LA’s soils.
The Nespresso coffee pods composted through this program were returned to the company by consumers in the LA area at thirteen designated drop-off sites across California. The pods are processed by Nespresso’s longtime commercial composting partner and USCC Member AgChoice; the spent grounds are removed from the aluminum pods, ensuring that the two materials can be recycled separately.
USCC Member City of Boise is expanding its free food waste drop-off program with the addition of two new locations. With the new locations, the program reaches a total of four drop-off locations across the city.
Boise residents who live in homes with curbside waste collection have access to city-sponsored curbside composting, but the City is striving to make composting accessible for residents living in multi-unit condo or apartment buildings. The drop-off program fills in these access gaps, ensuring all residents have an option for separating their organic waste.
The City of Boise produces STA-Certified compost with the organic waste it collects. The compost is utilized by the city and also distributed to residents. Learn more by clicking below!
OPPORTUNITIES, JOBS AND GRANTS
This multidisciplinary position will lead a targeted national campaign to expand compost markets in non-agricultural sectors through targeted social and traditional marketing and strategic partnerships. This role will manage multiple campaigns tailored to distinct audiences, applying behavior change principles to shift practices and purchasing decisions. The Manager will also oversee the creation of sector-specific toolkits, web-based tools, and case studies that demonstrate compost’s benefits and applications, helping decision-makers adopt compost as a practical, cost-effective, and sustainable solution. This is a full-time, remote position.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is offering grants to Oklahoma units of government to assist with sustainable materials management. Eligible units include tribal entities, political subdivisions of Oklahoma, components of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, local and statewide organizations representing municipalities or counties, or sub-state planning districts recognized by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The application for the 2026-2027 fiscal year will be open until February 28, 2026. Click below for more information about eligibility and funding.
ReFED's Catalytic Grant Fund is seeking bold solutions and initiatives in two high-impact areas:
Advancing food recycling: Enhancing sorting, decontamination, processing, and access to create more effective and efficient systems.
Reducing methane in the beef and dairy sectors: Cutting loss and waste by lowering animal mortality, improving supply chain efficiency to get more products to market, preventing food waste at the household level, and reducing enteric emissions through climate-smart feed additives derived from waste streams. Click below to learn more about eligibility and the application process.
Compost Research & Education Foundation News
As 2025 comes to a close, we invite you to support CREF. Your donation fuels the research, education, and outreach that improve compost quality, expand organics recycling, and help communities build healthier soil and a more sustainable future.
This year, CREF advanced key updates to the Test Methods for the Examination of Composting and Compost (TMECC), continued growing the Compost Operations Training Course (COTC), and identified our top 2026 research priorities through broad industry input. Your contribution allows this work to continue and grow.
CREF is excited to share that the Compost Operations Training Course (COTC) is coming to Georgia for the first time ever in spring 2026. The training reflects the efforts of the Georgia Composting Council (GCC), one of the USCC’s newest state chapters, in developing their state’s composting industry. CREF looks forward to partnering with GCC toward the training’s success. The Georgia COTC will take place March 16 - 20 at the University of Georgia’s Center for Urban Agriculture in Griffin, GA, just south of Atlanta. Learn more and register here (or click below!); early bird pricing is available through February 2!
CREF is entering the final phase of our 2026 research selection process, and we need your voice. After reviewing over 100 submissions and stakeholder insights, three priority topics have emerged as the strongest areas of need for the composting and organics recycling industry:
• Compost-based water conservation solutions
• Impact of adding food waste on composting dynamics
• Understanding PFAS levels in compost
IN THE HEADLINES
Raymond Boyd, AfroTech
ATLANTA, GA—Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, has reported on the data and diversion impact of its composting partnership with USCC Member CompostNow. Since the beginning of Spelman’s partnership with CompostNow, the campus has diverted 301,649 pounds of food waste and prevented an estimated 784,288 pounds of carbon dioxide. The composting program is a successful part of the institution’s ongoing Climate Action Plan.
Nora Goldstein, BioCycle
Massachusetts has been a leading state in organics disposal bans. Recent meetings of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) were held to discuss potential opportunities to increase organics diversion to reach goals set in the state’s 2030 Solid Waste Master Plan. Looking back at the successes and challenges of the past 11 years—since the first Organics Action Plan was published in 2012—the MassDEP considered multiple routes for the expansion of organic waste diversion going forward.
County of Santa Clara
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. – $196,707 has been awarded to 17 family farms and ranches through the County of Santa Clara's Agricultural Resilience Incentive (ARI) Grant Program. The grant program is in its fifth year of providing funding to help farmers implement sustainable agriculture techniques to benefit the environment and their farmland. Compost application is one of the primary practices that farmers will utilize the grant funding for, which will help improve the health of their soil, increase the soil's water-holding capacity and make it more drought-resistant, and improve plant growth.
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