WHEREAS, Composting is an effective form of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, and since organic materials make up over 30 percent of the material going to landfills, composting is becoming one of the primary methods communities use to reach waste diversion goals and create sustainable communities; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 719 of the Statutes of 2014 phased out diversion credits for organic alternative daily cover in landfills, Chapter 727 of the Statutes of 2014 statutorily mandated commercial recycling of organics, and Chapter 593 of the Statutes of 2015 required organic waste recycling planning by local jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS, Section 42649.87 of the Public Resources Code requires the California Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the State Water Resources Control Board, the State Air Resources Board, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to “develop and implement policies to aid in diverting organic waste from landfills by promoting the use of agricultural, forestry, and urban organic waste as a feedstock for compost and by promoting the appropriate use of that compost throughout the state to improve the state’s soil organic matter”; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 395 of the Statutes of 2016 required the State Air Resources Board to incorporate new targets for landfill diversion and reduction of methane emissions from livestock and dairy operations in its comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy, and specifically recognized the important role composting has in achieving those targets; and

WHEREAS, Organic residual materials, including yard trimmings, vegetable cuttings, biosolids, food scraps, manures, rice hulls, almond hulls, and hay shavings, are being composted and converted into beneficial compost products; and

WHEREAS, Returning organic resources, remanufactured into compost and applied to the soil, reduces water consumption by over 30 percent on all soil types, conserves water during extreme drought or flooding conditions, decreases dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and decreases erosion and nonpoint source pollution; and

WHEREAS, Composting is recognized by the State Air Resources Board as an important tool to sequester massive amounts of carbon in California’s soils to help immediately reverse global warming by drawing down excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it deep in California’s soils; and

WHEREAS, Communities, through their local governments, highway departments, soil conservation services, and public works professionals, can have positive impacts on clean water, soil, climate change, and landfill diversion by using compost for public works projects; and

WHEREAS, International Compost Awareness Week is a multimedia publicity and educational initiative to showcase compost production and demonstrate compost use initiated and supported by compost industry organizations around the world; and

WHEREAS, Composting creates green jobs and infrastructure for cities and states that implement composting programs; and

WHEREAS, The United States Composting Council, Canada, and the United Kingdom have declared the first week of May to be the annual International Compost Awareness Week; and

WHEREAS, The Association of Compost Producers is the California State Chapter of the United States Composting Council and manages International Compost Awareness Week in California; and

WHEREAS, All California citizens produce organic residual feedstocks that are remanufactured into compost, from their backyards to their regional industrial scale compost production facilities, collectively producing over 10 million tons of compost and mulch each year; and

WHEREAS, California intends to almost double its compost production capacity in the next 10 years; and

WHEREAS, The theme for 2022, “Recipe for Regeneration: COMPOST” is a great current message for California citizens, municipal leaders, and farmers to continue to learn the benefits to communities, property owners, and agricultural growers; now, therefore, be it