Compost for Good envisions a world in which humans positively impact the Earth and its communities by valuing organic waste as a resource.
Compost for Good supports communities to adopt economically viable and ecologically resilient composting systems and processes through education, outreach, technical support, peer to peer connections, and research.
The Compost for Good team offers site visits; soil and compost analysis through microscopy; presentations; marketing templates; grant writing and administration; project design and implementation; education/outreach campaigns; publications; individualized strategy development
Compost for Good is supported by Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) and AdkAction and partners with other regional organizations committed to reducing food waste and creating economic opportunity through community-scale composting.
The food system is too often seen like this:
When we rely on a linear food system:
This disconnection indicates a broken system.
If, instead, we are building systems that look more like this:
…we are building an interconnected, intact, inherently more resilient food system.
This document outlines how the Compost for Good team designed and built a commercial-scale, rotating drum composter, capable of processing all of the unsorted food waste. This composter was built for approximately $15,000 in material cost. Similar-sized composters purchased on the open market range anywhere from $40,000 to $150,000. Our hope is that this document provides enough detail so that others may build their own composter, save money, keep food waste out of landfills, and generate a valuable product for use or sale. We are quite sure that further modifications can be made to reduce the material and labor costs involved in construction.
This operating manual includes general composting instruction and guidelines interspersed with specific details from experience operating our drum composter since early 2017. The manual is intended to be supplemented by in-person and phone consultation, educational videos and a site visit to an existing operational system. Contact the author if on-site training is desired. A design document, educational videos, and lesson plans are posted on our website and a list of additional resources can be found in section VIII; the user is encouraged to reference them. The design for the high flow in-vessel drum composter was born from a desire to find the most affordable and efficient way to compost mixed food waste, in a way that produces high quality soil amendments on an institutional scale.
NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling LawEffective January 1, 2022, NYS has taken a stand to make the most of our food by mandating large generators of food scraps to redirect wholesome edible food to those in need and food scraps to organics recycling facilities where they will be recycled into a product beneficial to our environment.
Who will be impacted by the law? Large generators of food scraps (more than 2 tons of wasted food and food scraps per week on average) Examples: Restaurants, grocery stores, hotels & motels, colleges & universities, malls, event centers, etc. View a complete list of Designated Food Scrap Generators that will need to comply with the donation requirements or both the donation and recycling requirements under the law.
Download the DEC factsheet here.
View DEC’s Guidance for New York State Businesses
Stay up to date on the latest information: sign up to receive NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling law announcements from NYS DEC.
In January 2021, AdkAction and Compost for Good hosted an event to help municipal officials and community advocates understand the new law, and to introduce various options for composting. Representatives from NYS DEC joined us to discuss the new law as well as the Climate Smart Communities program. View a recording of the event here and view the presentation slides here.
What does New York’s North Country Need to build a thriving community-composting culture? In two Compost Town Hall sessions the Compost for Good Team discusses with the community ways to promote and support the development of business opportunities related to upcycling organics.
Learn about Reclaiming Urine as a Resource in these presentations by the Compost for Good team at the Rich Earth Institute’s Virtual Summit.
NY Food Scraps Recycling Law: is your community ready? AdkAction and Compost for Good hosted an event to help municipal officials and community advocates understand the new law, and to introduce various options for composting. Representatives from NYS DEC joined us to discuss the new law as well as the Climate Smart Communities program.
Learn about Compost for Good’s drum composter design in this session at the Vermont Organics Recycling Summit.
Learn about the profound role that composting can play in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in this presentation from NCAT’s Soil Health Innovations Conference.
DIY Compost System: Compost for Good co-founder Katie Culpepper walks you through the steps to make a 3-bin compost system out of pallet wood:
In our first series of Compost Cafés –a friendly open forum for discussing questions related to composting at any scale–Compost for Good co-founders John Culpepper and Katie Culpepper shared information and answered questions from novice and experienced composters in the Adirondacks and further afield.
View recordings of Compost Café sessions here:
Connect with the Compost for Good team on our Facebook page and share your composting knowledge and questions on our Compost for Good Facebook Group.
Compost for Good is excited to open the doors to its Human Urine Research and Demonstration (HURD) facility in the Adirondacks, inviting scientists, educators, policy makers, engineers, architects, and entrepreneurs
Compost for Good, in partnership with Clarkson University, AdkAction and the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), is excited to announce the launch of its new series of education and outreach
Each year, Americans discard 120 billion pounds of food scraps. That’s 325 pounds per person, or about 40% of the total waste stream. Packed into landfills, these food scraps generate
