Compost Matters is a one-day conference that will look at the current state of composting in the Delaware Valley. With a focus on new developments in food-waste composting practices, the forum will bring together innovators, policy makers, and visionaries in the field, examining current barriers to food waste recovery, public policy issues, and successful models from the region and around the state. The conference is geared toward sustainability professionals from local governments, institutions, and businesses; municipal and state officials; and the interested public. Participants will learn about current opportunities for composting food waste and how to include food recovery efforts in their operations. Tours of local composting sites will be offered on Saturday morning, April 10.

Keynote speaker Will Allen received a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2008 for his efforts to promote sustainable farming in low-income neighborhoods. Allen is CEO of Growing Power, a national nonprofit organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that supports the development of community food systems. Read a BioCycle magazine article on Will Allen here.  

Will Allen (in blue) with avid composters

 
A food waste recovery infrastructure is beginning to emerge in southeastern Pennsylvania thanks to:

•     The opening of the Peninsula Compost Group facility in Wilmington, Delaware. According to BioCycle magazine, when operating at full capacity (500 tons per day) the Wilmington Organic Recycling Center “will be one of the largest source-separated organics composting facilities in the U.S.”

•     On-farm composting at Two Particular Acres and growing interest among other local farmers. Two Particular Acres was one of the first food waste composting facilities in southeastern Pennsylvania, providing leadership to farm-based composting throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

•     Use of in-vessel composting units, including the Moravian Court Earth Tubs. Funded by the PA Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Pennsylvania, the Earth Tub project at Moravian Court is the first and only on-site, in vessel composting system serving commercial businesses in Pennsylvania. 

Preregistration is required. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Special thanks to our outreach partner the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia for its valuable support in promoting this event.