Local partners plan small-scale composting at Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center

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, and Resource Synergy plans to expand collection to other local businesses using roll-out carts and a trailer for cart swaps.

The project’s first phase is already funded, Maketzen said, citing an EPA Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant provided through the Inflation Reduction Act and administered by the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. The tribe purchased composting equipment and has gifted it to the University of Idaho for use at SOAC, he said. Alterra Mountain Company, the owner of Schweitzer, and the University of Idaho are providing additional cash and site-preparation support.

"I didn't come here tonight to ask for money," Maketzen said. He added that the grant covers most of the capital and that the University of Idaho is investing in site work and in subsidizing staff wages through the initial grant period.

Council members asked how the program would be rolled out. Council president Deb Ruhl confirmed the model would be voluntary; Mayor Jeremy Grama and Maketzen both described an initial focus on early-adopter businesses rather than residential collection. "We're not gonna require people to do this," Grama said. Maketzen said the enclosed system can run year-round because microbial activity generates heat, and he estimated a six-month lead time to receive the containerized equipment and to complete pad, electrical and water work so the system could be in place in the fall.

Maketzen said the pilot will accept carbon-rich materials such as woody biomass, wood chips, sawdust, or ground paper to balance food waste and that the final compost could be sold locally at a price aimed at the premium retail market (he cited retail compost prices of roughly $70–$95 per cubic yard at a local garden center as a market reference).

Councilors and staff praised the proposal and asked about scale, staffing and timeline. Maketzen said the grant subsidizes the University of Idaho for the first two years of wages and that the program aims to be self-sustaining by selling compost; the University would employ site staff during the subsidy period. He also said SOAC is a teaching site and that larger industrial-scale processing might need a different location in the future.

The presentation closed with Maketzen providing contact information for Resource Synergy, SOAC and the Kootenai Tribe; councilmembers expressed interest and offered further help with outreach, including the city’s planned downtown kiosk and community calendars to raise awareness of local programs.

Council discussion, public comments and staff questions at the June 4 meeting focused on the pilot’s voluntary nature, timeline, startup funding and the potential to add yard- and residential-fed systems later. No formal council action or funding request for the pilot was made at the meeting.