Zero Waste Task Force Looks To Composting By Scott Nicholson Watauga County may have a future in dirt, according to a regional consultant with a 28-year career in the composting industry. Craig Coker, who worked with several composting firms in North Carolina and currently operates Coker Composting & Consulting in Roanoke, Va., met Friday with members of the local Zero Waste Task Force. Coker was offering advice on how to match the scale of potential composting with regional resources, particularly in addressing the obstacles of developing an organized system in a rural area. Coker previously ran a manure composting operation in Asheville and has experience working with organized, municipal-run systems. While he acknowledges that reduction of waste upfront, and in recycling materials, can make a significant dent in the waste stream, composting of organic material can take a big bite out of solid waste costs. “The first step in the process is educating people about what part of the waste stream is biodegradable,” Coker said. “Since this is a rural area, backyard composting can work for a lot of people. A well-run program can divert 850 pounds (of biodegradable waste) per year per household.” Operating a community-based system requires more organization and transportation considerations. Coker said the different points of waste generation would need to be included, with a plan specific for each. That would include places like restaurants, grocery stores, and food product manufacturers. “Food waste is about 12 to 14 percent of our waste stream,” Coker said. “Very little of it is recycled. Contamination is a problem if people don’t sort the materials. Again, education is the key.” Broadening a community-based system into a town or county system offers other challenges, but also potential advantages, as the transportation costs can be minimized through efficient planning of routes or scheduled pick-ups of waste. However, an analysis of the waste stream would be required so decisions on economic use of waste materials could be made. “There’s a market for virtually everything in the solid waste stream,” Coker said. “However, some materials will always be more economically viable than others. Some will always be a struggle. The world runs on the economic bottom line. Where it’s more economically feasible, it’s more likely to happen.” For Watauga County, Coker said the rural road system and the low population density would make a regional collection system more desirable. That way, materials could be stockpiled longer and sold when the market was most favorable, as well as ensuring trucks were used at the fullest capacity in hauling the materials. “It’s expensive to move materials,” Coker said. “Perhaps a regional approach would create economies of scale.” Landscape and yard waste are other areas that can contribute significantly to the waste stream. Combined with food waste, such organic material can constitute up to a fourth of the waste stream. The county currently grinds untreated and unpainted scrap lumber and wood debris, which is given out as mulch. The Town of Boone allows landscapers to use the dried sludge from its wastewater treatment plant for landscape applications. Coker said larger-scale compost systems can be expanded to break down paper and even meat scraps. He said as long as the compost pile heats up to 135 to 140 degrees as the material decomposes, then meat should not be a problem. Smaller, home-scale compost piles generally don’t get warm enough to decompose meat efficiently, he said. Heavy metals, of concern in sludge and treated waste, are not a concern in food scraps and is virtually non-existent in wood debris, according to Coker. Compost makes a superior filtration system for erosion control since the material is loose and can readily absorb water and sediment. Coker praised a system in Chapel Hill that has a waste diversion system arranged with local restaurants and grocery stores. Watauga County may have enough such businesses to make a collection system cost-effective, even though the amount of material collected at each site might be small. “Usually the best business model is that the charge for collecting the waste covers the cost of making the compost,” Coker said. “The profit comes from the final product.” Coker said Watauga County also is in a unique position to encourage subdivisions and development built on “green” principles, with the idea of a community composting system part of the design concept. “It’s a chance to encourage a zero-waste mindset in conjunction with green development,” Coker said. As with recycling, Coker said education could begin at an early age. “If you can change the kids, eventually the parents will follow,” he said. Coker is a board member of the U.S. Composting Council, a national trade organization for the composting industry. He said there are 35 large-scale commercial, institutional or municipal composting systems operating in the state. The Zero Waste Task Force is holding a meeting on Feb. 28 to discuss the economics of composting systems. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the Agricultural Conference Center in Boone.