Biomaterials are needed to repair water and nutrient cycling in our ecosystems and sequester carbon in our soils. Currently,  valuable organic materials such as food waste, orchard biomass, and animal manure are classified as wastes causing mismanagement at the source. At PFL we believe this needs to change.

The bedrock of healthy soils are our organic material feedstocks. If these valuable materials are perceived as trash to be removed from the landscape jurisdictions will continue to fail to plan for their return to the biogeochemical cycles that govern living systems. These materials are products of rural economies, whose waste management schemes harm the air and water of our most burdened neighborhoods, concentrating untreated manure on cropland and holding ponds and burning, or chipping and exporting orchard waste.

Planning for a Regenerative Bioresources Economy:

California Compost Policy & Planning

PFL is producing a forthcoming whitepaper to delineate the local planning and state policy processes surrounding compost creation in California. The paper is meant to spur the necessary adjustments at the state and local levels to valorize organic materials and encourage growth in the budding bioresources economy. The paper assesses the major hurdles and keystones to compost development in the state including the availability of composting feedstocks, city and county planning policies, and state and local regulatory requirements.

PFL collaborates closely with local organizations actively involved in local policy fixes and proposals to spur the appropriate governance of local bioresources: California Alliance for Community Composting, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, ATIP Foundation, BEAM Circular, UC Climate Action Initiative, Berkeley Lab, Regional Conservation Districts, Fibershed.

Main Findings

  • 1. There is excess feedstock availability & insufficient compost processing

  • 2. Successful compost planning requires resource management programming (as opposed to waste management programming)

  • 3. Current composting regulations disincentivize growth and creation of small to medium scale compost operations

  • 4. Decentralized, small and medium-sized composting sites are more economical to build and Maintain, as well as provide a higher quality and more economical product