Monday, May 3rd: Vanguard Renewables’ new Anaerobic Co-Digester at the Goodrich Family Farm

Monday’s virtual tour was at Vanguard Renewables’ new anaerobic co-digester in Salisbury. The facility began operating in late 2020 and recycles commercial food waste and manure from a milking herd of 900+ to create tons of environmental, social, and community benefits. Unlike grid-connected AD’s, this project represents critical technological advancements and several firsts for Vermont, including a phosphorus removal system and an end product of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). Vanguard Renewables’ process also creates a low-carbon fertilizer and natural animal bedding for the farm, as well as no-cost energy from a combined heat-and-power generator (CHP) and local odor controls.

Tuesday, May 4th: Windham Solid Waste Management District's Compost Facility

Tuesday’s virtual tour was at Windham Solid Waste Management District's food scrap composting facility, which has grown to the 2nd largest in VT. The tour shows the processing of Brattleboro's residential curbside organics, as well as commercial and industrial organics co-collected with non-recyclable paper and cardboard. The facility has met its annual "small food waste composting facility" permit capacity limit of 2,000 cubic yards, and the regulatory requirements for moving to a larger permit capacity will be discussed. Marketing of "Brattlegrow" compost will be described, including manufacturing of topsoil..

Due to an unfortunate technical glitch, we were unable to host this virtual tour. However, District Manager, Bob Spencer, was also a panelist in Monday morning’s session on Food Scrap Composting Success: Stories from the Field. In this session Bob discusses the District’s compost facility and the follow up Q&A.

Wednesday, May 5th: Chittenden Solid Waste District's Organic Diversion Facility

Located within Vermont’s most densely populated area, Chittenden Solid Waste District’s Organic Diversion Facility (formerly known as Green Mountain Compost) has been ramping up to meet the changing needs of organics diversion. Come along for a virtual ride as we explore the many recent upgrades and process changes along with some of the challenges that increased organics diversion brings with it.

  • The tour starts at 0:12

  • Q&A with Dan Goossen starts at 15:47

Thursday, May 6th: Rich Earth Institute: Urine Fertilizer in Research & Practice

The Rich Earth Institute engages in research, education and technological innovation to advance the use of human waste as a resource. Rich Earth operates the nation’s first community scale urine recycling program, reclaiming the nutrients from our bodies as a sustainable fertilizer for local farms, reducing downstream nutrient pollution, and conserving clean potable water. This program serves as a platform for controlled agricultural field trials with urine fertilizer, as well as both lab and social research. In this virtual tour, learn about how their community-scale program operates and the future of urine nutrient reclamation in the Southern Vermont region and beyond!

  • The tour starts at 2:21

  • Q&A with Arthur Davis starts at 19:21

 Friday, May 7th: Black Dirt Farm

Black Dirt Farm is a diversified family farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. They collect food scraps from a wide variety of businesses and institutions in their community/ region, and use that material as a component of the compost forage it produces for its 1,000 bird flock of laying hens. What isn't consumed by the birds is then used to make compost and worm castings. The farm also grows a small number of crops. Their farm is firmly based in regenerative agricultural practices and the creation of sustainable food systems. Black Dirt Farm is committed to a community-scale, systems-based approach to organics management. Tom has played a wide variety of roles in the agricultural and composting sectors for 25 years.

  • The tour starts at 3:43

  • Q&A with Tom Gilbert starts at 16:07

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