I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5267

To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990

to require the Secretary of Agriculture to develop programs to encourage

source-separated composting at homes, schools, and workplaces, and on

farms.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 7, 1994

Mr. HOCHBRUECKNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade

Act of 1990 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to

develop programs to encourage source-separated

composting at homes, schools, and workplaces, and on

farms.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Composting

5 Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COORDINATION

2 OF COMPOSTING.

3 (a) COMPOSTING PROGRAM.—Subtitle F of title XIV

4 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of

5 1990 (Public Law 101–624; 104 Stat. 3619) is amended

6 by adding at the end the following new chapter:

7 ‘‘CHAPTER 2—COORDINATION OF

8 COMPOSTING

9 ‘‘SEC. 1476. FINDINGS, PURPOSE, AND DEFINITIONS.

10 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

11 ‘‘(1) billions of dollars are spent annually on

12 municipal solid waste management in the United

13 States;

14 ‘‘(2) a substantial portion of discarded munici15 pal solid waste is organic material that could be sep16 arated at the generating source and composted;

17 ‘‘(3) approximately half of this compostable ma18 terial could be diverted from the waste stream by

19 composting at home, school, and work, and on

20 farms, thereby avoiding at least 20 percent of the

21 ever increasing social and economic burden of mu22 nicipal solid waste management;

23 ‘‘(4) the incorporation in soil of organic mate24 rial derived from composting enhances soil produc25 tivity by adding nutrients and natural disease sup26 pressing factors;
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1 ‘‘(5) greater use of compost as a soil additive

2 will reduce erosion and run-off by increasing infiltra3 tion and permeability, thereby discouraging nonpoint

4 source pollution; and

5 ‘‘(6) composting and use of soil-enriching com6 post on farms is the most efficient and inexpensive

7 way for farmers to move toward sustainable agri8 culture.

9 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this chapter is to es10 tablish a structure to foster the development of source11 separated composting and the use of the resulting compost

12 at home, school, and work and on farms in order to dem13 onstrate that communities can achieve ‘zero-discharge’ of

14 these materials.

15 ‘‘SEC. 1477. FEDERAL COORDINATION OF COMPOSTING AND

16 USE OF COMPOST.

17 ‘‘(a) NATIONAL COMPOSTING COORDINATOR.—In

18 order to make the Federal Government the leader in

19 composting and the use of compost, the Secretary of Agri20 culture shall appoint a national composting coordinator.

21 ‘‘(b) ACTIVITIES OF COORDINATOR.—The national

22 composting coordinator shall be responsible for carrying

23 out the following activities regarding composting:

24 ‘‘(1) Development of cooperative agreements

25 with all Federal agencies to institute composting and
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1 facilitate on-site use of the resulting compost at

2 Federal installations.

3 ‘‘(2) Development of Federal procurement

4 guidelines for obtaining source-separated compost

5 for use on public lands and promotion of the adop6 tion of such guidelines by Federal agencies.

7 ‘‘(3) Establishment of a soil conservation pro8 gram for compost production and use as part of the

9 Soil Conservation Service and a cost-sharing pro10 gram for compost use as part of the Agricultural

11 Stabilization and Conservation Service protocol for

12 organic matter management and soil loss prevention.

13 ‘‘(4) Implementation of a ‘Zero-Discharge Com14 munity Challenge’, in which communities, cat15 egorized by size and region, compete for national

16 awards or grants rewarding those communities that

17 strive to achieve zero-discharge of compostables.

18 ‘‘(5) Establishment of a clearinghouse for infor19 mation available to the public on composting and use

20 of compost generated by States, Government agen21 cies (including the Department of Agriculture), envi22 ronmental groups, composting organizations and pri23 vate enterprises.

24 ‘‘(6) Establishment of a nationwide ‘compost

25 from cafeterias’ demonstration program to compost
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1 organic discards from school and workplace cafe2 terias together with yard trimmings.

3 ‘‘(7) Development of compost programs in asso4 ciation with restaurant, grocery, and other industry

5 where food scraps are generated.

6 ‘‘(8) Development of guidelines for the use of

7 compost in agriculture and public lands in conjunc8 tion with initiatives in the Soil Conservation Service

9 and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation

10 Service and demonstration of the suitability of the

11 guidelines through the use of compost in public pro12 grams.

13 ‘‘(9) Institution of outreach programs using the

14 Cooperative Extension Service to demonstrate back15 yard composting for homes, schools, workplaces, and

16 farms and promotion and coordination of cooperative

17 composting and compost utilization programs involv18 ing farms and communities by providing training

19 and technical support.

20 ‘‘SEC. 1478. DEFINITIONS.

21 ‘‘As used in this chapter—

22 ‘‘(1) COMPOST.—Organic materials that have

23 been biologically decomposed.
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1 ‘‘(2) COMPOSTING.—The term ‘composting’

2 means the controlled biological decomposition of or3 ganic matter into a stable humus.

4 ‘‘SEC. 1479. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec6 retary of Agriculture to carry out this chapter $2,000,000

7 for each of the fiscal years 1995 through 1999.’’.

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Such subtitle is

9 further amended by inserting after the subtitle heading

10 the following:

11 ‘‘CHAPTER 1—ADMINISTRATION

12 GENERALLY’’.

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of contents

14 in section 1(b) of such Act (104 Stat. 3359) is amended—

15 (1) by striking the item relating to section

16 1446;

17 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sub18 title F of title XIV the following new item:

‘‘Chapter 1—Administration Generally’’;

19 and

20 (3) by inserting after the item relating to sec21 tion 1473 the following new items:

‘‘Chapter 2—Coordination of Composting

‘‘Sec. 1476. Findings, purpose, and definitions.

‘‘Sec. 1477. Federal coordination of composting and use of compost.

‘‘Sec. 1478. Definitions.

‘‘Sec. 1479. Authorization of appropriations.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF COMPOST USAGE AS CONSERVATION

2 PRACTICE ELIGIBLE FOR COST SHARE AS3 SISTANCE

4 The Secretary of Agriculture shall designate use of

5 compost as an activity eligible for Federal cost sharing

6 under programs of the Department of Agriculture promot7 ing soil conservation practices and the establishment or

8 renovation of permanent vegetative cover.

Æ