Description
Expanding the use of locally produced compost—from food waste, yard debris, and biosolids—offers significant agronomic and climate benefits. It reduces landfill emissions and reliance on fossil fuel-based fertilizers, enhances agricultural productivity, increases carbon storage in soil, and improves soil health and resilience. However, challenges exist to expanding local compost production and use. King County will work with commercial compost producers to address challenges to generating higher-quality, near plastic-free product, and will proactively support increasing local capacity to process compost, including by exploring opportunities to establish compost facilities that can produce organic compost locally. The County will explore providing financial incentives to commercial compost producers and buyers to ensure high-quality compost is readily available at a reasonable cost, and demand for compost increases. King County will lead the effort to increase availability and use of compost and to push for a higher quality product. By 2035, the County plans to build and operate a facility to produce a high-quality, plastic free, biosolids-based compost and will support this by encouraging farmers to use the product, demonstrating efficient spreading practices, and supporting research on compost in agricultural settings.