‍Across the U.S., a rise in food waste bans and a growing focus on soil health offer a powerful opportunity to unlock demand for compost to build more resilient ecosystems. Compost can provide a solution to achieve the ambitious goals laid out in these types of policies.

The key to unlocking the compost industry’s full potential lies in incentivizing compost procurement and application. State policy can be a critical driver to scale the production, purchase and application of finished compost for a variety of use cases.

This policy brief explores strategies for promoting the purchase and use of finished compost to enhance our soils, including model procurement policies, compost application incentives and compost education programs.