The Rhode Island College Compost Conference will be held on Thursday, March 14, 2024 from 9am-3pm.
Learn about composting in Rhode Island and hear about solutions that benefit community and the environment. There will be guest speakers and workshops where attendees can gain knowledge on composting, food waste, and sustainability.
Hunger stalks the land, there is nowhere to safely throw the trash, and the deterioration of the climate threatens civilization. Big scary issues, and sometimes here in little Rhody se think there is nothing we can do to make a difference. But there is one topic that unites all of these issues and provides some real answers for moving forward. And if you want to be a part of the solution come to the RI Compost conference and Trade Show on March 14 at Rhode Island College. Think about it. A comprehensive systemic approach to managing food recovery and disposal gets food that is still good but about to be thrown away into the hands of people who need food, reduces the waste going into our rapidly filling landfill, creates soil amendments that help our neighbors grow food, puts carbon into the soil, and dramatically reduces methane leaking from the landfill, while creating jobs and value in the community . And if you want to learn about what is going on in Rhode Island around all of these issues, and howe you can be part of the solutions rather than making problems worse, you belong at the Compost conference.
The annual RI Compost Conference and Trade Show was started 15 years ago as one of the activities in a partnership between Southside Community Land Trust and the Environment Council of Rhode Island. It has grown into an amazing event with all aspects of food recovery and reuse represented in workshops, policy discussions, and exhibiters, growing along with all of the industries that have sprung up help Rhode Island meet the challenges. If you attend you can hear how DEM is planning to use food recovery and composting to help meet our climate goals under Act on Climate. You can talk to RI Resource Recovery Corporation staff about how to recycle better. Recovering Wasted Food will be there to talk about all that is happening to get food that is not being used into the hands of people who are hungry (and LOTS of people in RI are hungry). Want to find a local composter or a business that will pick up your food scrap for composting at home? Those folks will be there. Want help getting your school or your kids school to quit wasting food and start composting? Come talk to the RI School Recycling Project. Want advice on how to compost better at home. We got the experts. Think the legislature needs to take action, there will be a legislative roundtable with plenty of time for your questions and comments,.
The RI Compost Conference and Trade Show is being put on through a partnership between the RI College Office of Sustainability, The RI College Environmental Club, 11th Hour racing, The RI Food Policy Council, and ProsperityForRI.com. It will be held in Donovan Dining Hall beginning at 8:30 AM on Thursday March 14. There will be a breakfast, a morning plenary, 8 workshops, lunch, a trade show with at least 15 local exhibiters, an opportunity to inform DEM about their climate and compost programs, and a panel of legislators talking about what is going on in the compost realm up on Smith Hill. Tickets are $40. Discounts are available for school groups. Questions can be directed to Greg Gerritt gerritt@mindspring.com or Jim Murphy jmurphy2@ric.edu.
— Greg Gerritt, Council member