1.0   PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND GOALS

This report describes the process by which four compost end-use guidelines were developed, and ultimately makes recommendations for improving this process.  The intended audience for this report is policy makers, researchers, and other people interested in understanding how the guidelines were actually developed and how the development process could be potentially improved.  The actual compost use guidelines (presented in Appendix A) are intended for professional users of compost products.  These guidelines are available as a stand alone document through either the Clean Washington Center or the Composting Council in Alexandria, Virginia.

1.1   PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Compost production continues to grow as communities throughout the country implement new, and expand current composting programs.  In the Puget Sound area, diversion of yard debris (1), food wastes (2), animal manures (1) and wastewater treatment solids (3) to composting programs is continuing to increase.  This diversion could increase annual compost production by an additional 200,000 to 300,000 cubic yards within the next five years (1).

In order for composting to remain a viable alternative to organic waste disposal, markets for compost products must be increased.  Market studies conducted in King County and other locations throughout the country indicate landscapers are the current largest single compost market.  In most locations, other markets for compost such as horticulture and turfgrass production are virtually non-existent.  In King County, for example, landscapers use approximately 80 percent of the compost sold (1). 

Market studies commonly indicate many potential end-users do not use compost because they are unsure how to use the product, what type of product they need for their specific end-use, a specification does not exist, or they are unfamiliar with the product.  In addition, compost processors are not cognizant about product needs for some specific end-uses, and as a result do not produce compost that meets the specific requirements of some end-users.

In recognition of these barriers to developing markets for compost products, the Composting Council and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) sponsored a project in 1994 to develop best practice guidelines for using compost products. The project developed best practice guidelines for the following six end-uses:

·        Horticultural substrate (growing media) component

·        Soil amendment for silviculture (reforestation)

·        Soil amendment for turf establishment

·        Soil amendment for vegetable crop production

·        Growing media for sod

·        Soil mulch for erosion control

Based on the success of this first compost end-use guideline development project, the Clean Washington Center's Recycling Technology Assistance Partnership (ReTAP) provided funds to develop additional end-use guidelines.  The primary objectives in conducting this project are summarized as follows.

·        Develop four additional, new compost use guidelines using the same format as the six previously developed guidelines.

·        Develop and implement a protocol for conducting case studies.  The objective of the case studies was to document the use of compost by prominent and experienced professionals to supplement published research aiding in the development of the end-use guidelines.

·        Develop and implement a protocol for field or beta testing the guidelines.  The purpose of beta testing was to elicit critical comments on the practical application of the guidelines from professionals that would use them.

 

1.2   COMPOST END-USE GUIDELINE OBJECTIVES

The compost end-use guidelines are intended to meet the following objectives

·        Provide the end-user with information regarding appropriate characteristics for the specific end-use.

·        Provide instructions on how to use the product.

·        Provide processors with information on the type of product required for the specific end-use.

·        Provide the basis for compost specification development.

·        Provide the basis for future public and professional educational efforts and publications.

It is anticipated that these guidelines will provide a foundation for the expansion of compost product markets by improving product reliability and enhancing successful product end-use.  The development of compost end-use guidelines is also an opportunity for the Composting Council to expand its network of responsible public agencies, scientists, producers and users involved in compost market development.

1.3   PROJECT OVERVIEW

The ReTAP project entailed the development of compost end-use guidelines for the following applications:

·        Blended topsoil component

·        Soil amendment for planting beds

·        Soil amendment for marginal soils

·        Garden and plant mulch

Published research provided the basis for developing the compost end-use guidelines.  In addition, the practical experience of selected end-users was documented (as case studies) and subsequently used to supplement the published research.  The resulting conceptual guideline was reviewed initially by a Technical Review Committee comprised of academic researchers and scientists. 

After incorporating the Technical Review Committee comments, the draft guidelines were submitted to the Clean Washington Center, Composting Council Marketing Committee, and a Regional Review Committee for review.  The Regional Review Committee consisted of professional end-users, compost producers and marketers, and public agency planners working in the State of Washington.  Meetings were held with the review committees to discuss the resulting comments.  A third draft of the guidelines was accepted as a final draft.  The guideline development process is described in greater detail in Section 2.

A beta testing task was conducted to assess how useful the guidelines were in a field setting.  The beta testing task entailed observing a professional end-user use compost after they had read the guidelines.  The beta testing participant was then asked a series of questions to determine how useful the guidelines were, how they might be improved and who might potentially use them.  Results are provided in Section 5.2 of this report.

  The Composting Council is a national trade organization that represents a broad cross section of professionals involved with compost production and marketing, research, planning and other activities relevant to composting.  As a sponsor of the guidelines development project, the Composting Council is conducting the following guideline dissemination activities.

·        Press releases and newsletter articles that describe the end-use guidelines project and the availability of the guidelines.

·        Presentation of the guidelines at Composting Best Practices Workshops sponsored by ReTAP.

·        Presentation of the guidelines at the Council’s annual conference.

·        Dissemination of a publications list (that includes the end-use guidelines) to all people requesting information from the Council.

2.0   GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

This section of the report provides a description of how the compost use guidelines were developed.  Lessons learned from the project and recommendations for improving the guideline development process are presented in Section 3.

2.1   GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT STEPS

The following steps were used to develop compost end-use guidelines.

I.     Project Initiation

1.      Selection of a Regional Review Committee

2.      Selection of four compost end-use applications

3.      Selection of a Technical Review Committee

II.    Guideline Development

1.      Conduct literature search

2.      Develop and implement case study protocol

3.      Develop first draft of four guidelines

4.      Review of guidelines by review committees

5.      Incorporate review committee comments

6.      Prepare final draft of four guidelines

 

III.  Guideline Testing

1.      Beta testing protocol development

2.      Beta testing participant selection

3.      Beta testing implementation

4.      Development of recommendations

The guideline development process is described in greater detail as follows.

2.2       PROJECT INITIATION

Prior to actually developing the compost use guidelines, the framework for conducting the project needed to be set in place.  This included selecting a Regional Review Committee, a Technical Review Committee, and the four compost end-use guidelines to be developed. 

A Regional Review Committee was assembled to provide a link between the national Composting Council and local producers and users, and to ensure the Pacific Northwest region was represented in the guideline development process.  This committee was also convened to assure regional variations in compost use (climate, soils, plant species, etc.) were represented in the compost use guidelines.  The Regional Review Committee was comprised of people who have a more direct involvement in the day to day production and use of compost than the Technical Review Committee and the Composting Council Marketing Committee.

In selecting a Regional Review Committee, a list of people in Washington with experience producing or using compost was created.  The list was divided into three basic categories: compost producers and marketers, public agency employees, and professional end-users.  In selecting the committee members, the following criteria were considered:

·        Approximately equal representation of all three categories

·        Representation of eastern Washington (as a note of interest, there is much less composting taking place in rural eastern Washington than urban/suburban western Washington)

·        Representation of the Washington Organic Recycling Council’s Marketing Committee

A letter was sent to each potential member describing the project and soliciting their involvement as a committee member.  A few people declined the invitation and alternate committee members were solicited.  The resulting committee consisted of 14 members, three of which represented eastern Washington.  The committee consisted of five compost producers, six professional compost users and three public agency employees. During the project, the committee met a total of three times.

An initial Regional Review Committee meeting was conducted to introduce members to the project and begin the process of selecting four new compost applications for which compost use guidelines would be developed.  During the meeting, a list of potential compost uses was developed and after a lengthy discussion, the committee “voted” on the end-uses they thought were most appropriate for guideline development.  The committee was asked to consider the following criteria in selecting the specific end-uses:

·        Currently a large volume market or potential for becoming a large market

·        End-use meets public sector needs

·        End-use is highly visible

·        End-use is environmentally beneficial

The top six end-uses selected by the committee are presented as follows, in order of the number of votes received:

1.      Blended topsoil component

2.      Soil amendment for marginal soils

3.      Soil amendment for planting beds

4.      Soil amendment for bioswales

5.      Garden and plant mulch

6.      Soil amendment for orchards

Previous guidelines developed by the Composting Council were based on published information that documented how the compost was used and how well it performed in a specific application.  Guidelines developed in this project were also to be based on published information in order to be consistent with the earlier compost end-use guidelines.  Therefore, the next step in the guideline development process was to determine if sufficient published literature existed for four of the six end-uses selected.  

The search utilized the following five primary resources, 1.) a computer database assembled by the Composting Council, 2.) Agricola, a computer database focusing on agriculture and the natural sciences, 3.) the Technical Review Committee, 4.) E&A Environmental Consultant’s existing library and 5.) bibliographies from technical papers retrieved during the search.  The research publications obtained were reviewed to assess whether they were relevant to developing the specific guidelines.  A bibliography of pertinent research papers was then assembled. 

The literature search identified very little published information regarding the use of compost in orchard fruit production, and no published information regarding the use of compost in bioswales.  A bioswale is a grass lined depression used to collect and treat surface water from an area with an impermeable surface such as a parking lot.   Several surface water control manuals (produced by the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle and the King County Surface Water Management Division) have considerable information about the design, construction and maintenance of bioswales, but do not contain any information on the use of compost in the bioswale media.  Due to the lack of available published information regarding the use of compost in orchard fruit production and bioswale construction, the development of end-use guidelines for these two compost uses was not pursued further.*

 

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*As a note of interest, a project to define the use of compost in bioswale construction was funded by the Clean Washington Center’s ReTAP program in October 1995.  The project entails the design and construction of a bioswale containing compost, followed by the collection of monitoring data to establish if and how compost improves bioswale performance.  Information gained from this project will provide the basis for developing a guideline for using compost in bioswale construction.

After selecting the specific compost applications for which end-use guidelines would be developed, a Technical Review Committee was selected.  The purpose of the Technical Review Committee was to ensure that the guidelines were technically accurate and represented the most current research regarding the specific end-use.  The Technical Review Committee was comprised of academic researchers and scientists having experience at a research level with the specific compost end-use application.

The Composting Council Marketing Committee, the third review committee used in developing the guidelines, provided a direct link to the Composting Council.  This committee also provided continuity between different compost use guideline development projects, whereas the Regional and Technical Review Committees are newly constituted for each project.

2.3   CASE STUDY DEVELOPMENT

This task entailed the documentation of how prominent and experienced professionals use compost in the specific applications selected in this project.  The case studies for each specific end-use were then used to supplement published research in the development of that guideline. 

The use of case studies was a new addition to the guideline development process.  This task was added due to a lack of published research for many specific compost use applications.  Furthermore,  published research does not typically address some of the important practical aspects of applying and incorporating compost.  In addition, field applications often encounter poorer soil conditions than those used in controlled research projects.

Another important consideration in using case studies as a source of technical information for developing the guidelines was that researchers have a much different perspective on using compost than professional end-users and producers.  Research studies typically focus on how the use of specific compost products affect the growth of a few specific plant species in a specific application.  The resulting information is undoubtedly of great benefit to the end-user and compost producer.  However, users and producers have much broader information needs that include efficient methods for applying the compost, use of compost in different soils, use of compost for different plant types, and maintenance requirements after plant installation.  The narrow focus of research does not allow for the rapid development of a broad base of technical information.  In contrast, an experienced end-user can provide much broader, albeit less well documented, information regarding compost use.

However, it was also recognized that anecdotal information based on the qualitative observations of experienced end-users may not always be accurate.  Consequently, a protocol was developed to provide a standard procedure for documenting how industry professionals use compost in specific applications.  The protocol (presented in Appendix B) includes the following five basic steps.

1.      Review and modify survey format

2.      Develop case study participant selection criteria

3.      Identify potential case study participants

4.      Select case study participants

5.      Conduct case study interview

Throughout the process, the three project review committees were used as a resource for identifying case study participants and reviewing the survey format.  In this project, three case studies were developed for each of the four guidelines.  The resulting 12 case study write-ups are presented in Appendix C.

2.4   GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT AND REVIEW

Using the published research identified in the literature search and the case study write-ups, a first draft of the four guidelines was developed.  In a few cases where published research was limited, per