Composting

The problem: 30% to 40% of all food produced is wasted, and often ends up in landfills where it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

How we’re taking action: We help communities and individuals to adopt economically viable and ecologically resilient composting systems. AdkAction is the fiscal sponsor of Placid Earth, a student-driven compost business. We work with the Compost for Good team of volunteers to promote their education, outreach, technical support, and research in community composting.

Compost for Good

Compost for Good was launched in 2018 by co-founders John Culpepper, Katie Culpepper and Jennifer Perry to bring community-scale composting research and implementation opportunities to North Country farms, institutions, businesses and communities.

The CfG team offers support for farmers, municipalities, local food scrap haulers, compost operators, generators of food waste, community organizers, universities, and other organics entrepreneurs to improve and maintain long-term soil health and reduce the amount of organic materials ending up in landfills. They support organics recycling interests through customized technical assistance, microscopic analysis, grant writing, community networking, peer-to-peer relationships, site visits, and resources/toolkits.

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Learn about AdkAction's role with this project:

AdkAction is the fiscal sponsor of Placid Earth, a student-run composting business at Lake Placid Central School.

The school’s environmental club operates the composter at Shipman Youth Center, gaining hands-on experience in business management, career readiness, and climate resilience. Students work with the school cafeteria and community to collect organic waste, run the composter, and distribute the finished compost. Their mission is to support Lake Placid’s climate resilience by providing an organic recycling solution that reduces food waste for the school district, residents, and local businesses.

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AdkAction has a growing library of resources and educational materials for composting at any scale, including discussion groups, recent news, links to compost-related organizations, and videos.