Vermont Organics Recycling Summit

20th Annual Vermont Organics Recycling Summit: Compost! Feed the Soil that Feeds Us

The 20th Summit was held on March 25th at the Montpelier Performing Arts Hub, followed by workshops and tours around the state on March 26th.

VORS 2026 Session Recordings
VORS 2026 Day 2 Summaries

Jayne Merner has a lifelong passion for enlivening the world's soils. She grew up among the fertile windrows of compost at her family’s Earth Care Farm in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Founded in 1977 by her father, Michael Merner, Earth Care Farm is now operated by Jayne with the help of three generations of Merners and a small, dedicated staff.

The farm raises produce using regenerative practices and is best known for its large-scale, high-quality Merner’s Gold Compost. In addition to her work on the farm, Jayne hosts The Composter podcast and has traveled around the world teaching composting, helping to establish composting facilities, and sharing her deep love of the natural world.

Meet our 2026 Keynote Speaker: Jayne Merner

VORS 2026 Program

Wednesday, March 25

8:00-9:00 Registration, Networking, Exhibitors, Continental breakfast (Chapel)

9:00-10:15 Plenary session (Chapel)

    • Presented by Ben Gauthier, ANR Department of Environmental Conservation

10:15-10:45 Break - Networking, exhibitors (Chapel)

10:45-12:15 Concurrent sessions

  • This policy update session will provide an overview of recent and pending changes to Vermont’s solid waste and materials management framework, with a focus on on-farm composting (VAAFM, Act 41) and updates to the Solid Waste Management Rules (ANR/DEC), including new rules regarding depackaging facilities. Presenters will summarize where Vermont is in the rulemaking and implementation process, outline key provisions under consideration, and clarify timelines and areas of ongoing discussion. The session is designed to inform participants about the practical and policy implications of these updates, including how new and revised rules may affect organics management, depackaging operations, compliance expectations, system capacity, and the handling of higher-risk or more complex materials—such as butcher and slaughterhouse waste—within Vermont’s diversion and composting systems. The goal is to support shared understanding, identify implementation considerations, and create space for questions and dialogue as Vermont continues advancing its solid waste management rules.

    Facilitators:

  • Biochar is gaining momentum as a tool for compost and soil health—but not all “char” products are created equal. This session offers an overview of what biochar is, how it differs from high-carbon wood ash and other char materials, and why flame-top kilns are a strong option for farm-scale production. From there, the session connects production to outcomes: how biochar interacts with compost microbes, decomposition dynamics, and compost recipe design, and where it can add value in compost workflows and finished products. Ken will share lessons from building acceptance and adoption in Northern California. This sets the stage for a discussion of broader applications, including innovative approaches that incorporate biochar in media for compost filter socks, as well as developments in biodegradable sock material, their pros and cons for replacing poly netting, opening the door to new tools and products that support cleaner organics handling and reduced reliance on plastics.

    Presenters:

  • Healthy soils and clean water are deeply connected—and compost can help Vermont communities protect both. This panel highlights composting, nutrient recovery, and stormwater best practices that advance water quality across farms, roads, and watersheds. Agrilab Technologies, a Vermont Phosphorus Innovation Challenge (VPIC) awardee, will share updates from its on-farm Compost Aeration and Heat Recovery (CAHR) system and composting partnership at the Burnor Farm Site in Fairfield, including work to process manure phosphorus concentrates into nutrient-fortified compost and deploy manure ultrafiltration pilots in Franklin and Addison counties. We’ll also hear about approaches to managing water on the Windham Solid Waste Management District’s compost facility and the Vermont Compost Company’s compost site.

    Presenters:

    • Brian Jerose, Agrilab Technologies Inc

    • Tim Petit, Sanborn Head & Associates, Inc.

    • Karl Hammer, Vermont Compost Company

12:15-2:00 Lunch, networking, exhibitors (Chapel)

Author James McSweeney will be selling and signing his book Community-Scale Composting Systems during lunch! The book is in many ways a homage to the inspiring past, present, and future of composting in Vermont and profits will be donated to CAV.

2:00-3:00 Concurrent sessions

  • This presentation will provide an overview of resource concerns and other criteria of NRCS cost-share assistance for compost facilities. It will cover the types of facilities NRCS can cost-share including anaerobic digesters, management considerations, and end-use applications. We will also briefly cover the NRCS TSP program as it relates to compost and nutrient management.

    Presenters:

  • Restoring soils on a regional scale requires a systems approach supported by the community. This workshop will cover examples and ideas of how organizations, farmers, schools, conservation districts, conservation commissions and others can all work together to share best practices, interventions, trials, errors, and success stories. Part presentation, part conversation, we will explore our ability to leverage organics recycling, composting, and other initiatives to cultivate the foundation for healthy soils, food systems, waterways and communities.

    Presenters:

    • Karen Ganey; ReGeneration Corps

    • Willie Gibson, CCA; White River Natural Resources Conservation District

  • The purpose of this session is to increase food security for Vermonters by reinvigorating the connection between the waste management sector and the food rescue community.  A 2022 UVM study showed that 2 in 5 people in Vermont had experienced food insecurity in the past year. Solid Waste partners have a vital role to play on the road to food security, and the session will share the connection to the strategic state document, The Vermont Food Security Roadmap to 2035.Learn about opportunities to connect with the Hunger Free Vermont’s Food Security Networks across the state and enhance your networks. Get inspiration and tools from Willing Hands and the Vermont Foodbanks outreach to increase the rescue of wholesome food before it enters the waste steam.

    Moderator:

    Presenters:

3:00-4:00 Fermented food, networking, exhibitors & exhibitor bingo prizes! (Chapel)

4:30-6:30 After the program concludes, join us for an evening of tasty snacks, cold beverages and riveting compost conversation at Barr Hill. Generously sponsored byEcoProducts

Thursday, March 26

Day 2 FREE tours & workshops around the state.

  • Project Independence is a nationally recognized adult day center providing a closely supervised daytime home away from home for elderly adults whose independence has lessened due to chronic illness, disability, or very advanced age. A great source of joy and comfort for their participants is the delicious, 825 high-quality home-cooked meals their talented kitchen produces weekly. Nothing goes to waste at their facility, as 50 gallons of pre- and post-consumer food waste are given to local farmers and turned into nutrient-rich compost for their therapeutic gardens.

    With help from the Composting Association of Vermont, Project Independence purchased four Jora JK 400 as an affordable on-site composting system solution that yields outputs similar to expensive industrial-level composters.  The Jora breaks down all kitchen scraps, including meat, and reaches temperatures upwards of 175 degrees.  Once the compost cools back down from reaching the temperature in the Jora tumblers, the compost is put into newly built resting bins. 

    This site is a great option for those looking to implement composing on a commercial scale on a budget. 

  • The Biochar Coalition and Carriff Engineered Fabrics are teaming up to bring hands-on, field-based biochar education directly to working landscapes—no classroom lecture, no equipment sales pitch. In this outdoor, demonstration-based training, participants will learn how to safely convert excess woody biomass into high-quality biochar using flame-cap kiln methods, turning these materials into a stable carbon resource that improves soil health, water retention, and nutrient cycling. Grounded in Vermont’s landscape, climate resilience needs, and strong culture of land stewardship, the workshop will also demonstrate filling biodegradable compost filter socks with biochar-enriched media and explore real-world applications for stormwater filtration, equipping landowners, fire practitioners, crews, and community members with practical skills to turn local biomass into long-term ecological and soil health assets. There will be plenty of time for questions and conversation between ignition, feeding and quenching the kiln.

    • Time: 10am-1pm

    • Place: The Garden at 485 Elm, Montpelier

    • Educators: Ken Scherer, The Biochar Coalition; and Jack Eaton, Carriff Engineered Fabrics

    • Additional information:

      • This workshop will be outside. Please come prepared for end-of-March weather in Vermont.

  • Did you know one person’s urine contains enough nutrients to grow the grain for a loaf of bread every day? This guided tour of Wasted’s urine-to-fertilizer facility introduces visitors to our vision of catalyzing circular sanitation and changing the way people think about waste. Guests will learn how urine collected from portable and permanent toilets is transformed into licensed, safe, and effective fertilizers. The tour walks through key steps of the process, including urine collection from our proprietary toilets, heat treatment in our pasteurizer, and phosphorus extraction in our struvite reactor. Along the way, we explain how recovering urine’s nutrients protects waterways and reduces reliance on unsustainable fertilizers.

  • The Upper Valley Super Compost Project (UVSCP) is a nonprofit initiative to bring tailored compost infrastructure to public schools and support the development of cooperative, fully integrated school composting programs. UVSCP systems are collaboratively developed with schools and communities to support effective food scrap recycling, student learning and leadership, real-world problem solving, reinvestment in school staff, and the development of social and soil resilience. Come see for yourself! Sharon Elementary started using their Super Compost system in November 2023. Join us to tour the working system and hear from the students, teachers, and volunteers who sustain it.

  • Animal mortalities and slaughterhouse by-products are generated across Vermont and can be responsibly managed through composting at permitted facilities. This session will explain current solid waste regulations and proposed revisions designed to address the growing demand for mortality composting, and how these rules shape facility operations. Staff from the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) will share how they have integrated chicken mortalities into their compost recipe, illustrated with photographs showing proper handling to prevent odor, runoff, and other impacts. The presentation will begin indoors with an overview of regulations and operational practices, followed by a guided walking tour of the compost facility to see these systems in action.

    • Time: 1:00-2:00 PM

    • Place: Windham Solid Waste Management District, Brattleboro

    • Host: Bob Spencer, Executive Director, WSWMD

    • Additional information:

      • This tour will start inside and then move outside. Please come prepared for end-of-March weather in Vermont.

      • Park in the lot in front of the red building.

  • We will provide a tour of our Research Center including our lab, wet room (where we sanitize collected urine), portable toilet operation, demonstration garden and vermiponics system.  The tour will include an overview of our Urine Nutrient Reclamation Program and allow ample time for questions and answers. We also provide a slide presentation of the latest on-farm research from the Rich Earth Institute. We will share findings from our 3-year study investigating soil health impacts and farmer perspectives on novel soil amendments—including human urine, biochar from biosolids, biochar from other biomass, and compost—and discuss new equipment for on-farm urine fertilization. The presentation will conclude with our vision for upcoming research, and allow time for questions and answers.

    • Time: 2:30-4:00 PM

    • Place: Rich Earth Institute, Brattleboro

    • Hosts:

      • Tatiana Schreiber, Rich Earth Institute Social Research Director

      • Gretchen Saveson, Rich Earth Institute Research Associate

      • Arthur Davis, Rich Earth Institute Operations Director

    • Additional information:

Questions? Contact us!

Special thanks to

Thanks to CAV Regenerators

Thanks to VORS Sustaining Sponsors

Thanks to VORS Exhibiting Sponsors

Thanks to our Wednesday Food Sponsors

Interested in sponsoring VORS 2026?

Consider becoming a CAV sponsor to maximize your visibility among out community!

Interested in only sponsoring or exhibiting at the Summit? We have four categories:

  1. $1,500 includes additional acknowledgement, exhibitor table, 4 comped registrations

  2. $1,000 includes exhibitor table, 2 comped registrations

  3. $500 includes exhibitor table, 1 comped registration, 1 discounted registration

  4. $250 includes exhibitor table, 1 discounted registration

Logos and website links for Sponsors are included in promotion, on event and organization websites, and through our social media. We estimate VORS annual electronic promotion reaches 10,000+ individuals.

Learn more