EXPANDING MINORITY ACCESS TO COMMERCIAL FOOD WASTE COMPOST IN LANE COUNTY BY INCREASING DISTRIBUTION OF LOCAL PRODUCTS TO CLOSE THE LOOP ON ORGANICS

The project, "Expanding Minority Access to Commercial Food Waste Compost in Lane County by Increasing Distribution of Local Products to Close the Loop on Organics," seeks to address a missing element in the current Lane County food waste reduction plan and ensure that an increasing supply of commercially produced food-waste compost is accessible to more county residents, particularly in historically underserved rural communities. In order to accept more food waste, Lane County commercial composters need a reliable market to move the product, as they are limited by storage capacity and footprint of their operations. Thus, the two main goals of the proposed project are 1) to increase equitable access to compost and 2) to increase demand for commercial food waste compost, which both help to support increased production of compost from commercial food waste, thereby reducing organics entering the landfill. To achieve these goals, program funding will be allocated to purchase and deliver compost to Lane County agricultural producers (1-500 acres) and to host one Free Compost Day in four selected cities each year for two years.In the service of project goals 1 and 2 the following three objectives have been developed:Increase equitable access to compost: Increase food waste compost use in Lane County by 50 percent, with 40 percent of the compost distributed to minority communities and businesses. This will be achieved by, a) providing free compost to local agricultural producers and, b) providing free compost to residents in underserved Lane County communities. A total of 7,260 tons of free compost will be distributed over two years.Increase understanding of benefits of compost use through multilingual and culturally sensitive outreach and education. In consultation and collaboration with community-based organizations that are knowledgeable about the attitudes and beliefs of local disadvantaged populations, multilingual outreach, education, and marketing collateral will be developed in a culturally sensitive manner (print materials, electronic correspondence, social media). The goal is to engage with 250-500 agricultural producers each funding year, with 100 percent of the farms between 1-500 acres and 40 percent should be minority owned and to engage with at least 30 residents at every Free Compost Day event.Increase demand for food waste compost. The project aims to increase demand for local food waste compost by 20 percent and to increase brand recognition of local food-waste composts. Project objectives 1 and 2 will provide Lane County residents and small agricultural producers with the opportunity to see the benefits of compost application and to learn about the environmental and community health and resilience benefits. These efforts, which include distribution of educational and marketing materials, are intended to result in the desired 20 percent increase for local food waste compost products and increase in brand recognition.