Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Mark Your Calendars!

February 27: 2012 RI Compost Conference and Trade Show

By Brian Hull on RIFuture.org


Rhode Island is in for a long period of frugality. In this spirit we remember our Yankee roots of not wasting things.  As Rhode Island looks to build new industries, compost may be a building block for something new. But while food scrap to be turned into compost is rather abundant in Rhode Island there are obstacles to collecting it, and some of those are financial.

The 2012 Rhode Island Compost Conference and Trade Show provides a time to reflect upon where the compost industry is in Rhode island, and how we might go about more fully developing it. The heart of the conference is the trade show with manufacturers, distributors, composters, and related businesses, as well as community groups focused on food security that include compost and reuse in their missions. 





Clearly we have a long way to go in Rhode Island with some commercial sectors leading the way, and the municipal sector a bit behind. There will be much of interest, and hopefully it will give all sectors of the industry an opportunity to broaden the networks that will allow their communities to compost when the time arrives.
I hope you will join us at the RI Compost Conference and Trade Show February 27 at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket
The 2012 RI Compost Conference and Trade Show is being organized by the Environment Council of Rhode Island’s Compost Initiative with the generous support of Waste Management, Renewable Now, Full Circle Recycling, Newport Biodiesel, Johnson & Wales University, ECORI, and New Harvest Coffee Roasters
Event program
8:30 Registration Begins, Trade Show opens, Coffee and pastries.
9:00 Welcome.
9:45 Morning Speakers: The big picture
Michel Virga Executive Director United States Compost Council
The compost industry in the US in 2012.
10:05 Josh Nelson Agrilab Technologies
Heat Capture & Transfer from Aerobic Composting- A cost effective, renewable incentive for farms and communities.
10:25 Phil Holloway Director of Sustainability Services Environmental Products and Services of Vermont
Large scale commercial foodwaste collection
10:45 Questions to the morning speakers
11:30 Lunch and Trade Show
12:10 10 minute table talks session 1
12:30 10 minute table talks session 2
1:00 Afternoon speakers : Rhode Island
Nancy Warner The Worm Ladies of Charlestown
Worms- A cost effective solution to eliminating 67% of waste going too the landfill.
1:20 Robert Ross Johnson and Wales University
Preparing JWU for composting
1:40 Michael Bradlee Earth Appliance
Innovating
2:00 Greg Gerritt Coordinator RI Compost Initiative
What’s Going On
2:20 Questions and discussion with the panelists
2:45 Trade Show continues.
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