Boulder, CO | dan@ecocycle.org

Dan has worked in recycling, composting, and organic farming since 1982. His Zero Waste focus looks to marry these interests to maintain the highest value of our resources through creating local circular economies. Dan spearheads Eco-Cycle’s focus on utilizing organic waste and other resources in a local and global effort to restore healthy soil and sequester carbon. Dan serves as co-chair of Colorado’s US Composting Council state chapter.

Session Code: B1

Track: Policy

Session Name: State and Local Policy Work

Session Time: Wednesday, Jan 25, 8:15 to 9:45 AM

Presentation Title: Making the Compost-Climate Connection: Eco-Cycle’s Community Circular Compost System

Presentation Description: To combat climate change we must: 1. Employ nature-based solutions that remove excess carbon in the atmosphere through practices like carbon farming; 2. Build resilience in all landscapes to increase their ability to absorb carbon, retain water, create shade, recover after fire damage, and provide habitat; and 3. Engage the community in building these solutions. Key to all of the above is a Circular Compost System that captures food waste and uses local infrastructure to produce quality compost that the community applies locally.
Eco-Cycle is creating a model community Circular Compost System to help our community understand that composting organic materials is not just a waste-management strategy; it is a critically-important part of a circular system that engages all members of the local community in 1. Generating clean organic discards for composting, 2. Building local infrastructure to turn those discards into compost, 3. Applying compost on agricultural and urban lands to build soil, save water, grow nutrient-dense foods, and build community resilience to climate change. 

To illustrate this concept for consumers, Eco-Cycle has created several innovative forms of outreach: We have employed community science in a 3-year backyard carbon sequestration experiment, we have partnered with area regenerative farmers to both create the underpinnings of a distributed composting model and demonstrate carbon farming using compost, and we are partnering with the City of Boulder for a new 10-year compost-based project called Cool Boulder to improve our shade canopy and create pollinator corridors, all rooted in compost.

Session Code: G6

Track: Chapter and Member Development: Dig It at COMPOST2023

Session Name: Microbial Content: The Nitty Gritty of Advocacy

Session Time: Thursday, Jan 26, 2:00 to 3:30 PM

Presentation Title: COCC: Building Legislator Relations for EPR

Presentation Description: Colorado shocked the recycling world in 2022 by becoming just the third state to pass an extended producer responsibility law that, once fully phased in, will provide manufacturer-funded recycling statewide. Colorado’s law is considered by many to be the best model so far for other mid-continent states. This presentation will discuss how we garnered bipartisan support in both houses, how we created a wide coalition of support from industry associations, non-profits and local governments, and what are the implications for the compost industry.