Toward Compost Standards and Specifications – Getting Designers, Producers and Clients on the Same Page

Compost manufacturers nationwide have faced similar challenges like those in the State of Vermont. As the push for greener landscape options, better stormwater management and rising issues with impaired water bodies have grown, composters are at the forefront of solutions. Besides the huge benefits from the act of composting itself, the finished product has unique properties that make it a critical tool in healing soils and our waterways. In Vermont, there are a number of issues effecting compost producers large and small; issues like quality, standardized testing results, and creating common specifications. Adopting uniform standards would allow the Vermont DOT and DEP to develop statewide options for soil amendment, erosion control practices and general compost uses for planting or turf. To create greener solutions for soils to protect Lake Champlain, the White River or Furnace Brook, a universal compost language is needed. A tool like the United States Composting Council Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) Program can help build options and data to study trends in finished compost parameters, allowing Vermont to tailor specifications to meet market-available products. If composters continue to lead the way on sustainable solutions to protect soil and water, but without nationwide scientific-based standards, obstacles will stop end users from adopting these greener solutions.