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The article discusses sales of toilet paper in the U.S. Topics discussed include efforts to writing letters to toilet paper manufacturers to stop cutting down virgin forest to make toilet paper; success of bamboo-based toilet paper business; and toilet paper shortage in COVID-19 pandemic and World War II.

The article focuses on the digestability of Paper and paperboard (PPB) in the anaerobic digestion in the U.S. It mentions that the PPB is typically fabricated by processing wood through a series of mechanical and chemical steps. It also mentions that generic steps in the papermaking process include pulping, to separate and clean the fibers.

The article focuses on a study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) highlighting the significant amount of paper and cardboard waste that ends up in landfills across the U.S. Topics include the economic and environmental implications of this waste disposal method, the geographical distribution of landfilled paper and cardboard waste.

A recent White Paper commissioned by the Minnesota Composting Council (MNCC) highlights concerns over the lack of standardized compost used in state projects. Issues such as inconsistent quality, immature compost, and the presence of invasive species have led to hesitation in using compost. The paper recommends establishing a compost certification program to ensure quality and suggests adopting the national definition of compost approved by the American Association of Plant Food Control Officials. The MNCC is in discussions with the MN Crop Improvement Association to move these recommendations forward. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on the countywide mail survey undertaken by Action Research Group Inc. and the city government of Fremont, Wisconsin. It mentions that the survey is aimed to identify outreach strategies that can improve the community's participation in curbside organic waste collection. It cites the outreach strategies and that the results of the survey shows that all three strategies significantly improves the participation rates.

The article focuses on several aspects of recycled paper's fuel potential. It mentions about use of recycled paper for production of ethanol or higher value molecules such as lactic acid. It also mentions that cities are paying hauling services large sums to take their paper with most of that paper heading to the landfill. It also mentions use of cardboard boxes for food packaging is highly restrictive to protect food safety.

The article discusses that the Illinois organics recycler launches compost kiosks for households to drop off source separated food waste. Topics discussed include llinois, was founded by Yvonne and Luke Rosenbohm in 2015 to fill a niche for a 24/7 organic waste hauling service; and Luke's parents, Paul and June Rosenbohm, operate LHF Compost, Inc. in Peoria, dba Better Earth Compost, which is permitted to accept source separated food waste streams.

The article informs that organics recycling facilities in North America combine anaerobic digestion (AD) and composting on the same footprint. Topics discussed include process of yard trimmings and food waste in California; technologies to process source separated organics (SSO) and produce renewable power; and upgrade of existing tunnel composting system by Christiaens Group.

The article offers news briefs related to composting and renewable energy in the U.S. as of May 2015. Community Access Survey conducted by the American Forest & Paper Association revealed increase in consumer access to community paper and paperboard recycling. The Washington State Court of Appeals released a decision in a court case regarding ban on land application of biosolids. European Parliament gave its final approval for legislation amending the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.

A peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Cities claims that urban agriculture has six times the carbon intensity of conventional agriculture. The paper is based on survey results from gardens in France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. The authors used a model called Ecoinvent to calculate emissions, but the assumptions in the model were not shared. The study found that urban farms had lower emissions than traditional agriculture within three years of establishment, while individual and collective urban gardens had higher emissions. The paper acknowledges the benefits of urban agriculture, such as better eating habits and a connection to nature and neighbors, but suggests that current practices may need improvement. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that grease-proofing materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are no longer being sold for use in food packaging in the U.S. This decision eliminates a major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from items such as fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out containers, and pet food bags. The FDA engaged with companies in 2020 to cease sales of these substances following a safety assessment, and the voluntary commitment by manufacturers to phase out the use of PFAS in paper and paperboard food packaging products was influenced by research conducted and published by FDA scientists. [Extracted from the article]

A paper published in November 2023 in Environmental Health Perspectives discusses the potential presence of contaminants in compost produced from urban food and yard waste, such as pesticides, lead dust, and PFAS. The research team conducted case studies in Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York City, examining waste-to-compost activities and legislation. The authors argue that inequities in composting practices are partially due to historical marginalization and loss of land, leading to food inequality among communities of color. They recommend that cities address these inequities by providing multilingual and multimedia communication and education about composting, and by engaging with volunteer garden coordinators and community organizers to advocate for the needs of community farmers and growers. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on the initiation of a pilot residential food scraps collection program by the Division of Waste Services in Nashville, Tennessee, involving 750 single-family homes since October 2023. Topics include the program's weekly collection by Compost Nashville, the inclusion of soiled paper and BPI-certified compostable products, and the motivations behind the pilot as part of Nashville's Zero Waste Master Plan to increase waste diversion and address limited landfill capacity.

The article focuses on a Cascadia Consulting Group for Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), and it reports that compostable materials, mainly yard trimmings and food waste, were the majority of materials collected from residential and commercial sectors in 2021–22. It highlights the contaminants, which include potentially compostable paper and non-recoverable waste. It emphasizes the estimate that food, including both edible and non-edible categories, was a significant part of the organics stream.

The article announces the opening of the call for papers for BioCycle's 17th Annual Conference on Renewable Energy From Organics Recycling (REFOR) on May 1, 2017 for the October 16-19 event at the Red Lion Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

The article presents a paper that details a statistical analysis based on a life cycle analysis (LCA) to compare land application of compost to compost applied as landfill daily cover. It discusses that impact of wasting organics as landfill, along with mentions the nitrogen and carbon sequestration assumptions.

The article focuses on recycling in King County, Washington. Topics discussed include findings of a survey of households on food scrap recovery, residential curbside programs in King County, the goal for food packaging, product labels, and containers to be compostable as well, and commitment of fast food chain, Taco Time to recycling.

The article discusses the paper "Anaerobic Digestion and Its Applications" released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Core Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Technical Team, which provides information on anaerobic digestion, the AD process, and the impact of AD systems on environmental sectors.

The article invites papers for the journal's 30th Anniversary West Coast Conference titled Advancing Organics Recycling to be held on April 4-7, 2016 in San Diego, California on various topics including composting, anaerobic digestion, compost utilization, and biogas markets.

The article focuses on Minnesota's new law, which expands the Standards for Labeling Plastic Bags law to include food and beverage products and other packaging claiming compostability. The law aims to reduce misleading claims, enhance composting facility efficiency and minimize contamination by setting criteria for labeling products as compostable starting from January 1, 2025.

The article informs that the deadline for submission of abstracts for ORBIT2016, the 10th International Conference on "Circular Economy and Organic Waste" has been extended to January 31, 2016.

The article offers information on the BioCycle's 30 Anniversary West Coast Conference to be held in San Diego, California in April 4-7, 2016 in which topics include composting, anaerobic digestion, compost utilization, biogas markets, food recovery and recycling.

The article offers brief information on the 29th Annual West Coast Conference to be held in Portland, Oregon from April 13-16, 2014, and mentions deadline for the submission of abstract on topics including composting, anaerobic digestion and urban agriculture connections.

VERKO's existing composting facility is being redesigned with a new reception hall and pretreatment process. A fairly small number of organics recycling facilities in North America combine anaerobic digestion (AD) and composting on the same footprint. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on the New York City curbside organics collection program which includes household food scraps, compostable paper and yard trimmings, brought in several tons in 2021 as compared to several tons at the program's peak in 2018. Topics include considered that in that year, curbside collection for buildings of nine units or fewer was in place in roughly two-thirds of the city's 59 sanitation districts, all outside Manhattan.

The article discusses food waste recycling programs for composting started by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) waste stream in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in partnership with the organization Mecklenburg County Solid Waste (MCSW). Topics discussed include views of Derrick Harris, an Environmental Supervisor at MCSW, on food waste produced by CMS schools, processing of soiled paper and napkins collected at schools and views of Rusty Fuller, CMS' Director of Custodial Services, on this. INSET: Scaling Up Composting In Charlotte.

The article offers information on the Prince George's County Organics Composting Facility which is owned and managed by Prince George's County, Maryland, and processes leaves and grass clippings into a trademarked compost product Leafgro sold for landscaping, erosion control and green infrastructure projects. Topics discussed include views of Marilyn Rybak, Prince George's County's Section Manager, on this, plastic bag ban by Prince George's County Council, and compost containing food waste.

The article reports on the Scraps, a joint program between the City of Aspen and Pitkin County, Colorado that reveals how motivation and collaboration can propel organics diversion within a municipality. Topics discussed include efforts of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for collection and outreach materials to establish a food waste diversion program, offering business resources to begin separating out food scraps and soiled paper from their waste stream, and composting.

The article provides information on the U.S. Composting Council (USCC) document "Compost Manufacturers' Decision-Making Guide to Accepting or Rejecting Compostable Products" in 2021. It describes the five-step approach of BioCycle Associates to developing the guide. The paper "Compostable Products: A Primer for Compost Manufacturers" released in June serves as its companion document. It enumerates the composting observations discussed in section one of the guide.

The article focuses on issues concerning plastic bag policy in the U.S. It discusses the efforts of the local and state governments to manage single use plastic bag waste, using bans, fees, improved recycling, and compostable bags as several nongovernmental organizations and environmental activists are pressuring the government in reducing plastic bag consumption.

The article offers information about Jay Peak, a four-season resort in Jay, Vermont, highlighting its greening initiatives, in partnership with the Clear Water Carbon Fund, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by planting trees along streams in Vermont. It also discusses the resort's restaurants which have diverted over tons of food scraps and soiled paper to an on farm composting facility.

The article reports on curbside organics collection pilot program including food scraps, yard trimmings and food-soiled paper by New York City (NYC) Department of Sanitation (DSNY). It states that the program delivered brown organics bins, educational materials, coupons for compostable bags and kitchen container to collect food scraps. It mentions that steps taken by DSNY to reduce use of contaminants such as plastic bags and polystyrene foam include increase compostable bags availability.

The article reports that the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota rolled out its residential curbside organics collection program in 2015-2016. Topics include considered that accepted feedstock's include all food scraps, food-soiled paper, BPI-certified compostable foodservice items and liner bags, and pizza boxes.

The article discusses BioCycle CONNECT series on food waste depackaging systems. Topics discussed include importance of minimizing solid contaminants such as papers, plastics, metals, and inert materials prior to the digester; importance of removing contaminants from the feedstock during preprocessing; and ratio of food waste to green waste to digestate can be altered to produce a feedstock.

The article offers news briefs related to recycle as of February 1, 2016. Topics include the expansion of food scraps and soiled paper collection services in California, the availability of composting project for the youth in New York and the expansion of the organics diversion program of Austin Resource Recovery in Texas.

The article focuses on the Zero Waste Facility Certification program of the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council (USZWBC) which promotes diversion from waste to energy through organic recycling. It highlights the goals of the government including to achieve zero waste, reduce greenhouse gas emission and provide renewable energy sources. It also cites several recyclable materials which include cardboards, aluminum and wood pallets.

The article reports that entrepreneur Eric Walter builds a composting company called Black Bear Composting company. It states that Black Bear began a commercial and residential food scraps collection service, accepts food-soiled paper and compostable plastic products. It mentions that Black Bear teams up with the largest source separated organics composting facility in Virginia and Black Bear has been collaborating with pilot-scale residential food waste program in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The article reports on the ban imposed by Canadian Province of Nova Scotia on landfill disposal of all compostable as part of its waste management strategy. Topics discussed include adoption of clear bags by small communities in order to collect source separated organics, implementing ban to incineration and any energy-from-waste facilities and views of environment ministry Nova Scotia Environment's research technical analyst Don MacQueen.

COMPOSTING, CONTAMINATION, FOOD WASTE, POLICIES +REGULATIONS Two "issue papers" released in mid-August reportfindings from the literature on contamination in foodwaste from plastics and persistent chemicals So much of the research and writing I've been doinglately relates in one way or another to addressing thepresence of contamination associated with food wastestreams destined for composting and/or anaerobicdigestion. More recently -- as in the past five years or so-- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination infeedstocks (food scraps, yard trimmings, biosolids) andin the finished products (compost, digestate) has rearedits ugly head. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on the challenge and opportunities of high moisture feedstocks and paper manufacturing waste to food waste processor TAM Organics in Vermont. Topics discussed include an overview of TAM Organics, the composting operations of the company, and the increased feedstock volume received by the company.

The following rule of thumb is auseful guideline: Not all biodegradable products arecompostable, but all compostable products (assuming theymeet existing standards) are completely biodegradable,i.e., achieve 90+ percent conversion of carbon to carbondioxide by microbial utilization. This paper, the USCC virtual workshops and Summit, and adecision-making guide for compost manufacturers onacceptance of compostable packaging (to be released in abeta-test form at the Summit), are designed to helpcompost manufacturers navigate this complex landscape. COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING, COMPOSTING, CONTAMINATION, FOODWASTE, MARKETS, OPERATIONS, POLICIES + REGULATIONS The US Composting Council's Primer, authored by BioCycleeditors, supplements its upcoming workshops and Summit onguiding composters on acceptance of compostable products The US Composting Council (USCC) released "CompostableProducts: A Primer for Compost Manufacturers" on June 11.Authored by BioCycle Associates (BioCycle Connect, LLC'sconsulting division), the Primer is part of a virtual"conference" on compostable products that consists of twoeducational workshops, June 17 and 24, and a Summit onJuly 15. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the benefits of Town of Natick, Massachusetts'Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) waste disposal program which includes fixing a municipal budget shortfall, reducing the amount of trash, and increasing recycling. Topics discussed include the views of JeremyMarsette, Director of Public Works for the Town of Natick, on recycling programs, a residential curbside food waste, and food-soiled paper collection, and challenges for trash and recycling.

The article reports on the announcement by the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District in Massachusetts that 25 public schools in the county, including seven high schools, divert all food and paper waste from cafeterias and kitchens into composting programs.

The article reports on the announcement by the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District in Massachusetts that 25 public schools in the county, including seven high schools, divert all food and paper waste from cafeterias and kitchens into composting programs.

The article discusses a lot of media attention has given to the issue of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Topics include PFAS have a large group of compounds used in nonstick coatings, textiles, paper products, firefighting foams, and other products; and the perfluoroalkyl acids, such as perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate, have mobile, persistent, and bioaccumulative.

The article focuses on residents in the City of Napa, California, have had access to single stream recycling and green waste collection for many years. Topics include conducting several pilot programs with curbside collection were allowed to include food scraps paper in their brown organics carts, the curbside program has serviced by Napa Recycling & Waste Services, and the single stream recycling and yard trimmings collection has offered along with their garbage service at no extra charge.

The article focuses on recovering nutrients in digested dairy manure. Topics discussed include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states in a background paper for its ongoing Nutrient Recovery Technology Challenge; and reducing complaints and environmental risks is crucial to giving dairy farms a "social license" to operate, according to Newtrient LLC.

The article informs that certified biodegradable and compostable bags containing municipal biowaste were processed at four German facilities with anaerobic digestion (AD) and composting systems. It mentions that thehe potential for an increased amount of noncompostable plastics entering their systems and to the possibility of compostable bags not completely degrading during short composting periods, and the case for plant operators exclusively composting biowaste.

The article focuses on the tips for adding COVID-caused unsold milk to digesters and the latest on a major airport becoming a major RNG offtaker. It mentions that dumping of milk results directly from the COVID-19 quarantine dramatically changing the way milk is consumed and the type of processed milk products needed; and also mentions that lack of employees to process milk due to COVID-19 concerns or illness.