NRDC releases model municipal policy for community composting

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has released a new model municipal policy, designed to help municipalities advance composting to meet climate and waste reduction goals.

The policy guide, developed in partnership with the NDRC, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, is a template ordinance designed to reduce regulatory barriers and provide opportunities for community composting.

This model is a companion to the NRDC/ELI Model Municipal Zoning Ordinance on Community Composting, which reduces zoning barriers by establishing community composting as a permissible land use under a municipality’s zoning code. 

Together, the organizations hope these models can advance community composting, which, in turn, can help municipalities cut solid waste management costs and meet their economic development, climate and waste reduction goals while achieving various other co-benefits.

Specifically, the model requires a municipality to inventory municipal ordinances and regulations that could apply to community composting operations and to determine whether any of them present an unreasonable barrier. For any municipal ordinance or regulation that is determined to present a barrier, the model requires the municipality to reduce or eliminate the barrier to the extent practicable. The model also directs the municipality to identify any state laws that may present unreasonable barriers, such as solid waste permitting requirements.

In addition, the model addresses specific barriers in the following areas: nuisance determinations; floodplain management; licensing of haulers and collection of organic material; regulation of the distribution and sale of compost; and procurement of compost and composting services. 

The model also addresses how a municipality can provide opportunities for community composting, including promoting public awareness and education, offering technical assistance, and committing to financial assistance.

The off-the-shelf version of the model is accompanied by a version with commentaries and a background memorandum, which offer alternative approaches and additional information to help municipalities tailor the model to their local circumstances. For example, because community composting can take many different forms and operate at varying sizes, its definition in the model is intentionally flexible; a municipality could choose to include a quantitative threshold, such as throughput volume or site area, to determine what qualifies as a community composting operation.

A slide deck is also provided to help municipal staff or community members share the model with decision-makers and other stakeholders.

The model is part of an ongoing effort to provide municipalities and advocates with tools to reduce the time and resources associated with taking food waste reduction actions, NRDC says.