2013 Proceedings

Click on presentations to view.

If the presentation you are looking for is missing, check back–we are adding them as the authors make them available.

Skip to Wednesday, January 30

Plenary Session

Opening Keynote: “JOURNEY TO ZERO WASTE” – Vonda Lockwood, Walmart Director of Sustainability for US Operations

USCC Conference Program – Tuesday, Jan 29

CONCURRENT SESSION 1

10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Composting Growth: National and Regional

• Composting: Great Potential? So What’s the Hang Up?
  Juri Freeman, Skumatz Economic Research Associates Inc. (SERA), Superior, CO

• 100% Diversion – What Will It Take and What Will It Mean for America?
  Noel Lyons and Lynn Lucas, McGill Environmental Systems, Harrells, NC

• Growing Food Waste Diversion Programs – Trends in Food Waste Composting in the Southeast Miriam Zimms, Kessler Consulting, Inc., Tampa, FL

10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Diverting Organics From Disposal

• Closing the Loop on Supermarket Recycling: A case study
  Patti Olenick, Weis Markets, Sunbury, PA

• Food Waste and Packaging: The Tricky Balancing Act
  JD Lindeberg, Resource Recycling Systems, Ann Arbor, MI

• Maximizing Organics Diversion: A Comparison of Residential Food Waste Capture Rates
  Rhodes Yepsen, Novamont North America, Inc., Danbury CT

• Close the Loop Vermont: Developing Systems to Recycle all of Vermont’s Food Scraps by 2017 Noah Fishman, Highfields Center for Composting, Hardwick, VT

11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Community Composting in NYC

• Applied Concepts in Urban Composting
  Stephanos Koullias, Western Queens Compost Initiative, Astoria, NY

• Community Supported Composting
  Erik Martig and Christine Petro, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Brooklyn, NY

• Public Engagement in Local Composting
  Charlie Bayrer, Compost Manager at Earth Matter NY, Inc, funded in part by NYC Dept of Sanitation Compost Project, Local Organics Recovery Program

• Slow Compost in the City
  David Buckel, Red Hook Community Farm, Brooklyn, NY

11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Worker Protection at Composting Facilities

• Conducting a Hazard Evaluation of an On-Farm Anaerobic Digester and Related Systems Nellie J. Brown, Cornell University-ILR, Buffalo, NY

• Improving Safety at Compost Facilities George Driver, Old Castle Lawn and Garden

CONCURRENT SESSION 2

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Update on Persistent Herbicides

• Persistent Herbicide Damage in Vermont
  Tom Moreau and Dan Goosen, Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD), Williston, VT

• Recent Research Results
  Fred Michel, Ohio State University, Wooster, OH

2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Urban and College Composting

• Composting in a Big Apple High Rise
  Michael Bryan-Brown, Green Mountain Technologies, Bainbridge Island, WA

• The Business of Organics Recycling in Dense Urban Centers: Updates and Case Studies from New York City
  Matt de la Houssaye, Global Green USA, New York, NY

• SSO Composting at St. John’s University
  Peter Moon, O2Compost, Snohomish, WA

• The Goshen College Composter – Food Waste to Garden Greens
  Lewis Naylor, Goshen College, Goshen IN, Goshen, IN

2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Composting Education

• Composting as Co-Curricula Activity for Secondary Schools: The Nigerian Experience
  George Oldele Opeolu, Osun State College Of Technology,Esa Oke.Nigeria

• Closing the Loop While Building Communities – The Value of Connecting Organic Recycling and Compost with Schools and Community Gardens Anne Ludvik and Rob Friend, Specialized Environmental Technologies, Inc., Eden Prairie, MI

• Green School Solutions: Innovative School Composting Program Jason Sanders, Texas Disposal Systems, Buda, TX

• Austin Home Composting Rebate Program Daniela Ochoa Gonzalez, SOLURSO Sustainable Urban Solutions, Austin, TX

CONCURRENT SESSION 3

4:15 pm – 5:45 pm
Municipal Planning and Composting

• The Challenges of Composting in Rockbridge County in Southwestern Virginia: Bringing County, City, and Institutional Stakeholders to the Table
  Bill Hamilton, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA

• The City of Dallas – Critical Importance of Composting in Reaching Long-term Resource Recovery Goals Risa Weinberger, Risa Weinberger & Associates, Inc., Dallas, TX

• Bordo Poniente Composting Facility in Mexico City: 2,500 ton/day of Feedstock Producing 500 ton/day of Compost
  Luis Raul Tovar, Francisco Javier Barrón, Ma. Eugenia Gutiérrez, and María Teresa Nuñez, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, Mexico

4:15 pm – 5:45 pm
Tools of the Trade

• Jeff Gage of Compost Design Services will lead an informative interactive workshop on getting the most out of new and common tools of the industry. The emphasis will be on tools to help monitor various aspects of the process, including proper techniques for sampling your piles.

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Composter as Collector

Panel of composters discuss the advantages and pitfalls of being their own hauler. Panelists included:

• George Jordan, AgRecycle, Pittsburgh, PA

• Amy Brooks, Brooks Contracting, Goldston, NC

• Chuck Wilson, A-1 Organics, Eaton, CO

• Everett Hoffman, Bootstrap Compost, Boston, MA

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Recent Research in Compost Uses

• Turfgrass Seeding Practices for Reclaiming Disturbed Urban Land with Compost Gregory Evanylo, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

• Use of Composted Wastes of the Tequila Industry as Growing Media for Blue Agave Tequila Marcos Rafael Crespo-Gonzalez, University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico

• Nutrient Budget for Fruit and Vegetables Based on Compost and Inorganic Fertilizer
  Monica Ozores-Hampton, University of Florida/Southwest Florida Research and Education Center. Immokalee, FL

• Water Productivity Under Different Puddling Intensities and Organic Amendments in SRI Method of Rice Establishment Veena Sharma, Jammu, India

USCC Conference Program – Wednesday, January 30

7:45 am – 8:15 am
USCC Annual Membership Meeting

CONCURRENT SESSION 4

8:30 am – 10:00 am
Anaerobic Digestion

• Development of the AD Industry in the US: Status Report
  Josh Lieberman, American Biogas Council, Washington, DC

• Requirements for Food Waste AD Pre-processing — It All Depends…!
  Norma McDonald, OWS Inc., Cincinnati, OH

• Five Year Status Report on an On-Farm Anaerobic Digester in New York State – Money well spent?
  Jeffrey Heath, PE, GHD, Cazenovia, NY

• Analysis of Dry Fermentation Anaerobic Digestate to Finished Compost Product
  Steven Sell, BIOFerm Energy Systems, Madison, WI

8:30 am – 10:00 am
Food Waste Focus

• Food Court Composting
  Holly Elmore, Elemental Impact, Atlanta, GA

• The Business Side of Post-Consumer Food Waste Composting
  Dan Matsch, Eco-Cycle, Boulder, CO

• State of the Industry: How Food Waste Generators are Buying Organics Programs Today
  Robin Sweere, Sweere Consulting, Dallas, TX

• National Restaurant Association and USCC: Joining Together to Expand Composting in Restaurants
  Jeff Clark, National Restaurant Association, Ventura, CA

8:30 am – 10:00 am
Compost Facility Start-Ups: Opportunities and Challenges

• Business Case Study: Compost Facility Start-Up Opportunities and Challenges
  Pierce Louis and Tyler Miller, Dirt Hugger The Dalles, OR

• Challenges and Lessons Learned in Building a Food Scraps Composting Facility
  Eric Walter, Black Bear Composting, Crozet, VA

CONCURRENT SESSION 5

10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Compost Technologies 1

• Davenport Iowa Odor Control Improvements
  Todd Williams, CH2M Hill, Mechanicsville, VA and Scott Plett, City of Davenport, IA

• Food Waste Composting With Plastic on Purpose
  Kevin Barnes, City of Bakersfield, Bakersfield, CA

• State-of-the-Art for Removing Contamination from Organic Wastes
  George M. Savage and Luis Diaz, CalRecovery, Concord, CA

The 3rd Annual Compostable Plastics Symposium, Session 1

The 3rd Annual Compostable Plastics Symposium is sponsored in part by Ingeo from Natureworks

Greening the Arena: A Case Study in the Compostable Plastics Value Chain Facilitated by Phil Ragan, EcoSafe Zero Waste, Surrey, BC
Members of the Case Study Panel include:

• Resin Producer: Keith Edwards, BASF Corporation
• Regulator: Dick Lilly, Seattle Public Utilities
• Hauler and Composter: Michelle Riggs, Cedar Grove Composting
• Product Supplier and Distributor: Xavier Noblat, Sales and Marketing Manager, R3 Redistribution Seattle
• Venue and Event Management: Leslie Lukacs, L2 Environmental
• Leadership in Sustainable Practices and Advocacy: Scott Jenkins, Seattle Mariners & Green Sports Alliance

10:45 am – 12:15 pm
The Business of Organics Recycling

• Organics Operating Systems: Applying Integrated Approaches to Managing Organic Materials
  Paul Sellew, Harvest Power, Waltham, MA

• Sustainability and the Compost Business: How a Commitment to Sustainability Spurred Sales Growth in a Declining Economy
  Kathy Kellogg Johnson, Kellogg Garden Products, Carson, CA

• Food Waste Composting: A Look at a Growing Business
  Wade Hooton, EcoScraps, Inc, Provo, UT

• New Technologies in Compost: What Works for the Organic Production Market?
  Doug Currier, OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute), Eugene, OR

10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Legislative Updates and Initiatives

• New and Model Rule Development – Minnesota Compost Rules Ginny Black, MPCA, MN

• Compost Rule Model Template Stephanie Busch, Georgia EPD, GA and Nora Goldstein, Biocycle, Emmaus, PA

CONCURRENT SESSION 6

2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Compost Technologies 2

• Utilizing GPS and GIS technology for Compost Facility Management and Compliance
  Shawn M. Kelley, Michael B. Whitt, and Kara R. Grones, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Prior Lake, MN

• The Benefits of Upgrading to Intensive Compost Process Management at a Large Scale Source Separated Organics Facility Tim O’Neill, Engineered Compost Systems-ECS, Seattle, WA

• Innovative Composting Technology for Biosolids Conversion to Class AA Bill Townshend, South Dade Soil and Water Conservation District, Florida City, FL

2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
3rd Annual Compostable Plastics Symposium, Session 2

• Sorting Through the Latest Names, Claims and Performance of Degradable Additives and How They Impact Compostable Plastics
  Keith A. Edwards, SPI-Bioplastics Council, Liberty Twp, OH

• Lessons Learned from California’s Compostable Plastic Labeling Laws
  Sue Vang, Californians Against Waste, Sacramento, CA and Laurie Hansen Strategic Partners Group, Sacramento, CA

• Biopolymers- An Effective Tool For Decentralised Organic Waste Management and Carbon Foot Print Reduction
  Shilpa Manjure, Natur-Tec, Circle Pines, MN and C Dhakshayani, Harita-NTI, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

• Plastics Sorting Study—What’s Really In The “Overs”? Matthew Cotton, IWM Consulting, Nevada City, CA

2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Compost Markets and Marketing

• The Market Potential of Compost: Who Buys What, Why, When and How
  Juri Freeman, Skumatz Economic Research Associates Inc. (SERA), Superior, CO

• Florida’s Emerging Compost Markets? Developing a Market for Compost in a Barren Landscape
  Keith A. Howard, Lee County Solid Waste Division, Ft. Myers, FL

• Establish a Cost Effective Marketing Budget and Track Your Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)
  David Hill, CycleLogic, Sarasota, FL

• How to Market Yourself, Your Brand, and Your Compost
  Justen Garrity, Veteran Compost, Aberdeen, MD

CONCURRENT SESSION 7

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Vermicomposting and Mortality Composting

• Review of Mid-to-Large Scale Food Residuals Vermicomposting Rhonda Sherman, NC State University, Raleigh, NC

• Large Scale Vermicomposting Case Study
  Tom Herlihy, Worm Power, Geneseo, NY

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Organics Stewardship

• Humanure – The Use of Human Excrement as a Compost Feedstock
  Joseph Jenkins, Joseph Jenkins, Inc, Grove City, PA

• Growing Local Advocacy for Healthy Policies and Healthy Communities
  Nicole Chardoul, Resource Recycling Systems, Ann Arbor, M

• Building Organics Stewardship in Puerto Rico: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Internship
  Ana V. Arache and Rafael Fernandez, Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University, San Juan, Puerto Rico Office

Back to Top