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Local partners plan small-scale composting at Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center
Summary
Resource Synergy, the Kootenai Tribe and the University of Idaho described a funded pilot to process food and yard waste at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center using an enclosed, containerized composting system. The first phase targets business-sourced food waste; initial capital is paid by federal and tribal grants and private donations.
A Spokane-based sustainability consultant told the Sandpoint City Council on June 4 that a funded pilot will site a containerized composting system at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center (SOAC), with the goal of keeping food and yard waste inside Bonner County.
"We're here tonight to talk trash," said Eric Maketzen, founder and president of Resource Synergy. He told council that roughly a third of Bonner County’s disposed material is organic and currently hauled about 70 miles to a landfill in Adams County, Washington. The pilot would process food and yard waste in enclosed equipment and then cure the compost on site in an adjacent barn.
Maketzen said the system is a 20-foot shipping container that mixes material with an auger for two to three weeks; cured compost would then be moved to one of six bays in a secondary barn. Schweitzer Mountain Resort is expected to be the first commercial source of food waste,…
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