Compost for Good encourages and supports organics recycling in New York

Compost for Good is passionate about helping communities reimagine their “waste.” John Culpepper, Jennifer Perry, and Katie Culpepperjoined forces about a year ago with the Adirondack-based not-for-profit AdkAction to create Compost for Good. This project fits well within AdkAction’s mission to address unmet needs, promote vibrant communities, and preserve the natural beauty of the Adirondacks for all. 

AdkAction’s Compost for Good (CfG) project is working with organizations, community leaders, and individuals from all over New York State and beyond to support organics recycling efforts. At the moment, the CfG team is focused on helping communities prepare for the upcoming NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, beginning January 1, 2022. 

With funding from NYSERDA, John Culpepper worked with Greg LeClair of Northeast Industrial Composters to design an innovative in-vessel community-scale composter capable of processing up to 50,000 pounds of food scraps per year. The design plans, operating manual and other supporting materials are free and available to anyone, and can be found on the CfG website. 

There are four of these composters operating in New York State, located at Hermon DeKalb School, North Country School and Camp Treetops, The Wild Center and The Shipman Youth Center and one in New Jersey at The Pingry School. Combined, those five composters have processed over 225,000 pounds of food scraps, creating a valuable soil amendment—beautiful dark compost. We would love to be a support as more schools, organizations, and individuals  begin to think about implementing community-scale composting systems.

When food scraps and other organic materials are buried in landfills those materials break down in the absence of oxygen, creating methane gas. According to the US EPA, methane is over 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. The five composters mentioned above have prevented over 30,000 pounds of methane from being formed. 

John, Jennifer, and Katie are passionate about helping communities reduce greenhouse gas, and turn “waste” into a valuable product that creates jobs, improves soils, and sustains communities. We encourage anyone who is interested in community-scale composting to visit our website, visit us on facebook or to contact us at: compostforgoodteam@gmail.com