This VORS 2024 presentation highlights the successes of grassroots-led food rescue and explores opportunities for decentralized composting within the urban landscape of Burlington, VT. Both efforts were launched to empower residents to engage with neighborhood food systems and to uplift urban food access solutions that are often overlooked.

Presenters:

• Sarah Hobson shares the progress of the Food Not Bombs (FNB) network in collaboration with co-op residences in Burlington, as well as the important role local supermarkets played in reducing food loss and upstream waste.

• Bo Meisl speaks about the collaborative energy behind a neighborhood composting pilot and outlines scalable opportunities for community composting across urban zoning districts.

• John Culpepper provides an overview of technologies that support decentralized composting and discusses the value of producing biologically rich compost to improve soil health.

Video time stamps:

• 00:00-02:45 Natasha Duarte, Introduction

• 2:45-22:41 John Culpepper, Compost for Good

• 22:41-37:34 Bo Meisl, SoilCycle BTV

• 37:34-52:48 Sarah Hobson, Food Not Bombs

• 52:48-01:02:29 Q&A and discussion

• Download the slide deck (pdf)

Resource shared:

• Free, open-source community-scale In-vessel composter design from Compost for Good

  • Recorded webinar from John “An affordable, buildable, easy to operate, commercial rotating drum composter for schools, organizations, and small communities” (VORS 2020)

• Recycling & Composting Container Grants from CSWD