March 9 statewide conference hopes to continue state surge toward composting

Speaker Lineup set for 2017 Rhode Island Compost Event

Contact  Greg Gerritt 

You'll hear a lot about Charlestown's Earth Care Farms, the state's largest
agricultural compost producer. (photo by Will Collette)

The speaker lineup for the 2017 Rhode Island Compost Conference and Trade Show that will be held Thursday March 9 in the student center of Rhode Island College has been finalized. 

A joint venture of the Environment Council of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island College Office of Sustainability, the opening plenary speakers will be William Conrad and Greg McCarron of SCS Engineers speaking on “Design and Operation  of a Decentralized Regional Compost System.”  

SCS Engineers has been in the compost business for a number of years and this talk will highlight what they have learned and current work. 

There will be a total of 8 workshops in 2 morning sessions, several covering topics never before discussed at the year RI Compost Conference. 

The 10:00 AM session has workshops from Sue AnderBois, Director of Food Strategy for the State of Rhode Island, Michael Bradlee of Earth Appliance, Antonia Bryson of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, and a delegation from the Rhode Island Worm Farmers Cooperative.  The 11 AM session has workshops from Karen Franczyk, 

Green Mission Coordinator for the North Atlantic Region, Whole Foods Market, Jayne Merner Senecal of Earthcare Farm, Conor Lally and Ben Goldberg of O2 and a community discussion on curbside compostable collection facilitated by Jennifer Weiting. 

The middle of the day  focuses on the trade show.  Current exhibiters include The Rhode Island Worm Farm Cooperative, SCS Engineers, The Center for EcoTechnology, Earth Appliance, and The Compost Plant. 

The Afternoon plenary is a talk. Lorenzo Macaluso, Director of Client Relations, Center for EcoTechnology on Growing Compost Infrastructure.  The Center for EcoTechnology has been helping communities scale up compositing for several years and we are excited to help introduce them to the RI compost community. 

  

Schedule

Composting & Food Waste as Part of the RI Food Strategy
Sue Anderbois, Director of Food Strategy, State of Rhode Island

2. Community Composting: Three Years of Research and Discovery
Michael Bradlee, Earth Appliance

3. Worm Tea     Monique Bosch  Rhode Island Worm Farmers Cooperative

4. School Composting Programs   Panel Discussion, Led by Antonia Bryson, RI Food Policy Council

Workshop Session II   11:00 am

A Discussion on Getting to Curbside Collection of Compostables in Rhode Island
Jennifer Weiting

2. How Whole Foods Markets Manages Food Scrap
Karen Franczyk, Green Mission Coordinator for the North Atlantic Region, Whole Foods Market

3. Composting Humanure
Conor Lally and Ben Goldberg

4. Celebrating 40 Years of Making Compost: The Journey of Earth Care Farm
Jayne Merner Senecal, Earth Care Farm, Charlestown, R

Lunch & Trade Show   NOON – 1:30 pm

Afternoon Plenary   1:30 pm

Growing Compost Infrastructure
 - Lorenzo Macaluso, Director of Client Relations, Center for EcoTechnology