Monday May 1st

1:00-1:30 PM Opening Remarks & State of the State of Organics in Vermont

• 00:00 Welcome to VORS 2023 from Natasha Duarte

• 01:38 Opening remarks from Deputy Commissioner, John Schmeltzer

• 09:28 State of the State of Organics in Vermont from Alyssa Eiklor

Download the 2023 State of the State of Organics slide deck (pdf)

1:30-2:30 PM “Keep it local for better compost” Keynote from Brenda Platt, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

• 00:00 VORS introduction from Natasha Duarte

• 02:38 Keynote from Brenda Platt, Director of the Composting for Community Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Download the 2023 Keynote slide deck (pdf)

Additional resources shared:

• ILSR Independent Business Initiative

• Report: Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back

• Report: The Dollar Store Invasion

• More information about big box stores from ILSR

• Vermont’s Priorities for Food & Food Scraps

• Compost infographics from ILSR

  ILSR’s Community Composting Initiative

• ILSR Community Composting Map

• A Growing Movement: 2022 Community Composter Census

• Podcast: Stop Privileging Large Industrial Sites Over Local Composters — Episode 125 of Building Local Power

• WasteDive: As organics depackager equipment market grows, so do concerns over microplastics contamination

• OceanWise: Microplastics Have Found Their Way into Our Compost

• VPRIG: Vermont Says NO To Single-Use Plastics

• The World: This Indian meal service is so efficient it’s the envy of FedEx

• Burlington Free Press: Vermonters shatter record for simultaneous dish washing

• Seven Days: Tiny Hardwick Breaks a Dishwashing World Record

• Upstream: Why compostables and bioplastics aren’t the answer

• https://upstream.org/

• https://www.reuseseattle.org/

• DC Department of Energy & Environment: Ditch the Disposables

3:00-4:00 PM: Expanding Site Capacity by Adding Aerated Composting to Turned Windrow Operations

Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) has operated a composting facility using turned windrow methods since 2012. The site manages source-separated food scraps, food processing residuals, leaves, wood chips, and other feedstocks, and sells screened compost as “Brattlegrow.” The site needs to expand its capacity to meet the increased volume of food scraps following the implementation of Act 148, and change its status from a small certified facility to a permitted medium-scale composting facility. This presentation described the planning and design process to integrate compost aeration and heat recovery (CAHR) in order to increase the space and labor efficiency of operations on a limited footprint. The regulatory, design, planning, fundraising, and other development work to identify an economical infrastructure and operating plan was also discussed.

• 00:00 VORS introduction from Natasha Duarte

• 03:37 Robert Spencer, WSWMD

• 17:03 Brian Jerose, Agrilab Technologies Inc.

• 38:49 Robert Spencer, WSWMD

• 46:08 Q&A

Download the Expanding site capacity slide deck (pdf)

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