Organic Materials Management

     From the soil up, conservation projects rely on the people whose experience and knowledge of what works turn an idea into practice. The San Mateo Resource Conservation District (RCD) created the Nature Champion Award to recognize such individuals. On December 12th, the RCD presented…

California Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) mandates a 75% reduction in organic waste disposal (compared to 2014 levels) to reduce methane emissions from landfills. This ambitious law requires residents, businesses, and local governments to divert organic waste—including food scraps, yard trimmings, and soiled…

Would you like some help with composting but are short on labor? Let your chickens do the work! At Garden to Table Silicon Valley Community Farm in San Jose they create a mound, or “Chicken Mountain”, of agricultural scraps and sprouted seeds for the flock, where the chickens eagerly peck and…

If you like the idea of composting but aren't so keen on the labor needed to regularly turn a compost pile, aerobic static pile (ASP) composting may be for you.

Biosolids, the nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge, have long posed a challenge for waste management. Recent regulatory changes have complicated the issue, discouraging the once-common practice of using biosolids for landfill cover.