May 3rd to 9th is International Compost Awareness Week

Both the Compost Council of Canada and the U.S. Composting Council are among those celebrating International Compost Awareness Week from May 3-9. The celebrations are particularly special this year as 2015 is also the International Year of Soil. International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. It is celebrated each year in the first full week of May.

The U.S. Composting Council says compost manufacturers and sellers around the United States are participating in the annual week which marks the increasing importance of compost as a benefit to world soil and smart resource management. Leading up to this year’s ICAW, the U.S. Composting Council held a poster design contest. The winning poster (shown left) is one of 226 entries from around the world focused on the theme: Be Loyal To Your Soil—Compost!, and is the visible symbol of International Compost Awareness Week in the U.S.. Below is the poster from the Compost Council of Canada. Visit www.compost.org for more information about ICAW in Canada. 

“This contest grows every year in notoriety, and its great that we had such a great response during the International Year of Soils,” said Jeff Ziegenbein, chair of the USCC’s International Compost Awareness Week Committee and project manager for Inland Empire Regional Composting Authority in California. International Compost Awareness Week is an annual multi-media publicity and education campaign that showcases composting and compost products, from backyards to large-scale composting facilities.

Sponsors of this year’s U.S. campaign include: BioCycle Magazine, BioBag USA, City of Los Angeles, Composting News, Erosion Control Magazine, Filtrexx International, Full Circle Organics, Georgia Recycling Coalition, Grab ‘N Grow, Keep America Beautiful, Natur-Bag, Reotemp, VoncoII Waste Management Campus, and WeCare Organics.

The U.S. Composting Council is a national organization dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of the composting industry. Established in 1990, the USCC achieves this mission by supporting and performing compost-related research, promoting best management practices, establishing standards, educating professionals and the public about the benefits of composting and using finished compost. USCC members include compost producers, marketers, equipment manufacturers, product suppliers, academic institutions, public agencies, nonprofit groups and consulting/engineering firms. The USCC is a non-profit 501(c) (6) organization that also directs the Composting Council Research and Education Foundation (CCREF), a 501(c) (3) charitable foundation, which administers public and private research and education activities.

The Compost Council of Canada is a national non-profit, member-driven organization with a charter to advocate and advance organics residuals recycling and compost use. It serves as the central resource and network for the compost industry in Canada and, through its members, contributes to the environmental sustainability of the communities in which they operate.