Training Courses

Compost Operations Training Course:

• 40-hr, 5-day course put on by the Composting Council Research and Education Foundation includes lectures, hands-on activities and field trips
• focuses on the knowledge and skills to run a successful composting facility
• taught by leading composting professionals and educators
• Meets the training requirements to become a Certified Compost Operations Manager.

Register on the Foundation Website by clicking here.

Technician I Training Courses

Training Goal and Purpose: Train workers at compost facilities on core concepts, skills, and problem solving
Audience: Field workers and equipment operators at commercial-scale compost facilities
Duration: 1 day
Location: On-site at compost operation facilities. Training takes place in classroom setting and “in the field” at the composting operation site.

Interested in hosting a training?  Contact Samantha Stallybrass, sstallybrass@old.compostingcouncil.org, 443-688-6401

Classroom concepts

• Basic Biological Concepts, roles of oxygen, moisture, C:N ratio, temperature, porosity (bulk density), and time.
• Pile Management
  • Feedstock handling, receiving and storage, mixing, building, turning,
    curing, screening, storing, monitoring, adding water
  • The Importance of Material Flow: Best not to stockpile incoming or
    processed
• What we sample for and why,
• The Importance of Recordkeeping (what we record and why)
• Basic Worker Safety
• Troubleshooting
  • Focus on Odors, fires (top two issues at sites) Optional Field exercises
• Feedstock blending
• Pile monitoring
  • Temperature (Hand-held temperature probes; calibration)
  • Odor
  • Moisture (Squeeze test, microwave, Koster, interpretation)
  • Stability (Solvita)
• Pile measurements
  • Estimating pile size/volume
  • Estimating bulk density (bucket test)
• Sampling practice or demonstration
• Material Watering (classroom activity)
  A variety of field activities can be incorporated designed to train methods for analyzing specific pile problems using prebuilt piles.