CREF is excited to announce that this fall we closed a multi-year education project with Nestlé Corporation. Our non-profit team shared expertise on the creation and practical use of compost to help their international corporation move forward on their regenerative goals.
Test Methods for the Examination of Composting and Compost (TMECC) is the lab manual of standard protocols for the composting industry, used by compost producers and laboratories in the U.S. and worldwide to evaluate compost quality. Standard test methods enable the comparison of composts across testing labs and composting processes across facilities.
We are excited to announce the opening of the annual poster and bookmark contests for International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW). The 2027 theme is All Paths Lead to Compost.
The Compostable Field Testing Program (CFTP) has collaborated with composters across North America to gather field test results from a wide range of facilities, all published on our open-source data dashboard. This article is the final in a four-part BioCycle series. Part I shares background on the CFTP, Part II provides detail about field test methods, and Part III describes trends in field testing results. This article addresses the future of field testing for the CFTP.
The Eco-Products and San Diego Padres partnership offers a replicable model for large venues serious about diverting food waste and compostable packaging from landfill.
The Compostable Field Testing Program’s dataset — spanning 2,000+ mesh bag samples and 33,000+ dose trials — reveals clear disintegration trends across variations in temperature, moisture, duration, and processing technology.
Five years ago, conversations about compostable packaging were defined by the promise of material innovation. If food-contact packaging was designed to break down in industrial compost systems, then both the packaging and the food scraps it carries could be recovered together, enabling composters to divert more organics from landfill while supporting a more circular economy.
Raven Lester, a Ph.D. student in Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont, is researching the legacy effects of one-time compost amendments and the role of nematodes in carbon and nutrient cycling in California rangeland soils.
Compost Research & Education Foundation (CREF) is excited to share that we’ve been selected as a ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund grantee for its “Minimizing Methane Through Food Waste Solutions” open call.
