Read the full story from Biocycle.
State and federal policies and programs with potential to advance development of needed processing infrastructure are highlighted.
Category: Composting
Miller Lite converts sexist beer ads into fertilizer with help from Ilana Glazer
Read the full story at Marketing Dive.
Miller Lite is pledging to turn past sexist beer ads into fertilizer as part of a campaign running around Women’s History Month, according to a press release.
The Molson Coors brand has been busy buying up old marketing materials off the internet with the aim of converting them into compost that can be used to make fertilizer. The end product will be donated to women hops farmers, while the hops grown from the recycled materials will be sent to women brewers.
To spread word of the “Bad $#!T to Good $#!T” initiative, Miller Lite partnered with comedian Ilana Glazer, who explains the concept behind the campaign in a new video. Miller Lite joins other beer marketers in reckoning with prior marketing strategies that have largely ignored or objectified women.
Call to action: Illinois libraries can support International Compost Awareness Week
Read the full post from the Illinois Food Scrap and Composting Coalition.
The 2023 International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) Planning Team of the Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition invites public and institutional libraries throughout Illinois to join in efforts to raise awareness about the importance of composting.
ICAW is the global compost community’s largest and most comprehensive education initiative. Scheduled this year for May 7-13, ICAW is an annual weeklong celebration aiming to increase the diversion of organics from the waste stream through awareness of and participation in composting. Throughout the week community, school, government, and business events are held to encourage and celebrate all types of composting – from backyard to large-scale.
Closed Loop Partners joins forces with U.S. composters and composting industry to launch large-scale in-field degradation tests for compostable packaging
The Composting Consortium, a collaboration of industry partners managed by Closed Loop Partners, announced Monday the launch of its Compostable Packaging Degradation Pilot. The initiative is the most comprehensive collaborative study of real-world compostable packaging disintegration in the U.S. to date. The project marks a milestone for the Consortium, as it aims to improve available data on how certified, food-contact compostable foodware and packaging is currently breaking down at various types of composting facilities––from static piles to worms to GORE® covers. Participating facilities include Ag Choice; Atlas Organics; Black Earth Compost; The Foodbank, Inc. of Dayton, Ohio; Happy Trash Can Curbside Composting; Napa Recycling; Specialized Environmental Technologies, Inc.’s Empire Facility; Veteran Compost and Windham Solid Waste Management.
Working with these industrial composting facilities across the U.S., the Compostable Packaging Degradation Pilot will evaluate the disintegration of more than 30 types of certified compostable products and packaging––including compostable cutlery, molded fiber bowls, bioplastic cups and snack packaging––across facilities operating with varying climates, composting methods and equipment. Data gathered from the assessment will inform the Consortium’s broader work to align the rapid growth of compostable packaging with on-the-ground operational and business needs of industrial composters.
Federal lawmakers reintroduce bills calling for billions in food waste recycling and prevention grants
Read the full story at Waste Dive.
Two bills meant to provide billions of dollars in funding for food waste prevention efforts and support composting projects have been reintroduced in Congress.
The Zero Food Waste Act would offer U.S. EPA grants over ten years for projects that divert or prevent food waste or gather data about food waste practices. The Cultivating Organic Matter through the Promotion Of Sustainable Techniques Act (COMPOST Act) would offer grants and loans for both large-scale and smaller-scale composting infrastructure.
After 10 years of advocacy, all District 65 lunchrooms begin composting
Read the full story in the Daily Northwestern.
At the end of lunch in every Evanston/Skokie School District 65 school, students sort their waste into landfill, recycling and compost bins, stacking their compostable trays on the side.
Making composting part of students’ daily routines was no small feat. After a decade of work, District 65 Sustainability Coordinator Karen Bireta said all buildings in the district began composting in December.
During the last academic year, students composted 77,955 pounds of food, eliminating more than 34 metric tons of carbon emissions by keeping waste out of landfills.
After working to rapidly expand the program over the past several months, Bireta said she is excited to see the new composting system’s impact on students within and beyond the lunchroom.
On Chicago’s South Side, a unique bioenergy project helps fuel community connections
Read the full story at Energy News Network.
A biodigester fueled by food waste in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood is the centerpiece of a larger development to grow healthy food and economic opportunities.
USCC takes stance on PFAS
Read the full story at Biocycle.
“The US Composting Council (USCC), on behalf of an industry facing detrimental economic impacts from Per- fluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS) found in all consumer products, is calling for bans on use of the chemicals and immediate research to study their impacts on plant uptake,” states the industry association’s positioning and guidance statement on PFAS issued on November 29.
Technology, logistics make food-scrap composting in Wisconsin a challenge
Read the full story at Wisconsin Watch.
The University of Wisconsin and the city of Madison have struggled to turn tons of cast-off food into soil. Three Madison companies fill some of the gap.
US cities are recycling trees and poop to make compost
Read the full story in Wired.
Wood and biosolids from water treatment plants can be used to improve the soil—and keep remaining trees healthy.
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