(Radio Iowa) – The program manager at the Iowa Waste Reduction Center run by the University of Northern Iowa is now the president of the United States Composting Council board of directors. Jennifer Trent says the Council works to promote everything from compostable packaging to composting food waste. “The compost growth has been just incredible for the last years and when we had the fertilizer shortage that really propelled compost forward and a lot of these large compost manufacturers even community composters have seen quite a bit of growth and keeping up with it has been difficult,” Trent says. Trent says one projection has the compost industry growing by six-and-half percent by 2027, which equates to nine-point-five BILLION dollars.

She says Iowa has struggled to expand the compost industry here. “In my personal opinion and professional opinion, I think that’s wholly related to regulations that make it really difficult for businesses to grow and thrive,” she says. Trent says state regulations on businesses are permitted by rule and permitted. She says the permitted by rule leaves little room for companies. “You can only compost two tons of food and yard waste in combination per week. And that just simply isn’t enough to create a business and make money,” Trent says. “And so if you want to make money, then you have to become a permitted site. And the cost of that, Oh, my word is prohibitive.” She says they are trying to work with Iowa D-N-R and Department of Agriculture to get the the regulations changed so the compost business can grow in Iowa.

Trent says the compost can be used as a soil conditioner that acts sort of as a fertilizer, and can also be used to filter runoff water. “So that when that material enters into water sources across Iowa, it filters the contaminants, helping to create a greater water quality in rivers, lakes and streams across the state,” she says. There’s also composting on a small level in back yards across Iowa. Trent says this is something that’s also expanding. “Currently, we’re working with a lot of small rural public libraries o’clock across Iowa to provide compost programming. So we are definitely trying to do this. and it is making a huge impact from the first time we started doing this 12 years ago to now I see a huge uptick in the number of people that are interested,” Trent says.

She says people are learning that compost made from leaves and other waste can save them money when it is used in their gardens and yards. And Trent says composting on any level helps keep items from going to the landfill.