II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2388 

To require the designation of composting as a conservation practice and 

activity, to provide grants and loan guarantees for composting facilities 

and programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 20, 2021 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the designation of composting as a conservation 

practice and activity, to provide grants and loan guarantees for composting facilities and programs, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Cultivating Organic 

5 Matter through the Promotion Of Sustainable Techniques 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘COMPOST Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPOSTING AS CONSERVATION PRACTICE. 

2 (a) CONSERVATION STANDARDS AND REQUIRE3 MENTS.—Section 1241(j) of the Food Security Act of 

4 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(j)) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para6 graph (3); and 

7 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(2) COMPOSTING AS CONSERVATION PRACTICE

10 AND ACTIVITY.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by 

12 regulation provide that composting is a con13 servation practice and a conservation activity 

14 for the purposes of this title. 

15 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF COMPOSTING.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In this paragraph, 

17 the term ‘composting’ means— 

18 ‘‘(I) an activity (including an ac19 tivity that does not require the use of 

20 a composting facility) to produce com21 post from organic waste that is— 

22 ‘‘(aa) generated on a farm; 

23 or 

24 ‘‘(bb) brought to a farm 

25 from a nearby community and 


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1 used to produce compost on that 

2 farm; and 

3 ‘‘(II) the use and active manage4 ment of compost on a farm, in accord5 ance with any applicable Federal, 

6 State, or local law, to improve water 

7 retention and soil health. 

8 ‘‘(ii) DETERMINATION OF NEARBY

9 COMMUNITIES.—The Secretary, in con10 sultation with the Administrator of the En11 vironmental Protection Agency, shall issue 

12 regulations for determining whether a com13 munity is nearby for purposes of clause 

14 (i)(I)(bb), which shall ensure that bringing 

15 organic waste from the community to the 

16 farm to produce compost results in a net 

17 reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.’’. 

18 (b) CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM.—Sec19 tion 1240I(2)(B)(i) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 

20 U.S.C. 3839aa–21(2)(B)(i)) is amended by inserting ‘‘and 

21 composting practices’’ after ‘‘agriculture drainage man22 agement systems’’. 

23 (c) ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES PRO24 GRAM.—Section 1240A(6)(A)(ii) of the Food Security Act 

25 of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–1(6)(A)(ii)) is amended by inVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jul 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2388.IS S2388

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1 serting ‘‘, including composting practices’’ before the semi2 colon at the end. 

3 (d) DELIVERY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Section 

4 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 

5 3842(h)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(5) DEVELOPMENT OF COMPOSTING PRACTICE

7 STANDARD.—In addition to conducting a review 

8 under this subsection of any composting facility 

9 practice standard established before the date of en10 actment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall estab11 lish a composting practice standard under the proc12 ess developed under paragraph (3).’’. 

13 SEC. 3. COMPOSTING GRANT AND LOAN GUARANTEE PRO14 GRAM. 

15 The Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 

16 is amended by inserting after section 310I (7 U.S.C. 

17 1936c) the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 310J. GRANTS AND LOAN GUARANTEES FOR 

19 COMPOSTING PROGRAMS. 

20 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) CENTRALIZED COMMERCIAL COMPOSTING

22 FACILITY.—The term ‘centralized commercial 

23 composting facility’ means a regional composting fa24 cility that produces at least 10,000 tons of compost 

25 annually. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SOURCE SEPARATED ORGANICS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘source sep3 arated organics’ means organic waste that is 

4 separated from other waste by the waste gener5 ator. 

6 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘source sepa7 rated organics’ includes materials that are cer8 tified to meet ASTM standard D6400 or 

9 D6868. 

10 ‘‘(C) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘source sepa11 rated organics’ does not include mixed solid 

12 waste. 

13 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—The Secretary, in consultation with 

14 the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agen15 cy, shall establish and carry out a program to award 

16 grants and loan guarantees, on a competitive basis, for 

17 projects that expand access to food waste composting. 

18 ‘‘(c) GRANTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.— 

20 ‘‘(A) COST SHARE.—The total amount of 

21 grant funds awarded for a project under this 

22 section shall not exceed 75 percent of the cost 

23 of the project for which the grant is awarded, 

24 as determined by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM.—The total amount of 

2 grant funds awarded for a project under this 

3 subsection shall not exceed $5,000,000. 

4 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of funds made available to 

5 carry out this subsection in each fiscal year, the Sec6 retary shall allocate not less than 25 percent to 

7 projects that do not include the use of centralized 

8 commercial composting facilities, to the extent there 

9 are sufficient applications for those projects. 

10 ‘‘(3) TIMELINE.—An entity receiving a grant 

11 under this subsection shall fully expend the awarded 

12 grant funds within 3 years of receiving the funds. 

13 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The Secretary may 

14 award a grant under this subsection to any of the 

15 following entities: 

16 ‘‘(A) A State, local, territorial, or Tribal 

17 government. 

18 ‘‘(B) A local educational agency (as de19 fined in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

20 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 7801)). 

22 ‘‘(C) An institution of higher education. 

23 ‘‘(D) A nonprofit organization. 

24 ‘‘(E) A farmer or rancher. 


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1 ‘‘(F) A consortium of any of the entities 

2 described in subparagraphs (A) through (E). 

3 ‘‘(G) 1 or more of any of the entities de4 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (F), in 

5 coordination with a for-profit organization. 

6 ‘‘(d) LOAN GUARANTEES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.— 

8 ‘‘(A) COST SHARE.—The Secretary may 

9 award a loan guarantee under this section in an 

10 amount that does not exceed 80 percent of the 

11 cost of a project that is eligible for assistance 

12 under this section, as determined by the Sec13 retary. 

14 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM.—The Secretary may not 

15 provide a loan guarantee under this section in 

16 an amount that exceeds $5,000,000. 

17 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The Secretary may 

18 award a loan guarantee under this section to a for19 profit organization, farmer, or rancher that dem20 onstrates successful prior experience in developing, 

21 managing, and marketing composting facilities. 

22 ‘‘(e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—The Secretary may 

23 award grants and loan guarantees under this section for 

24 projects to carry out the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Composting facility or site permitting, 

2 planning, and construction. 

3 ‘‘(2) Acquisition of machinery, equipment, and 

4 other physical necessities required to operate a 

5 composting facility, system, or program, except 

6 depackaging equipment. 

7 ‘‘(3) Activities to increase the production capac8 ity throughput of a composting facility. 

9 ‘‘(4) Implementation of onsite composting sys10 tems and programs (such as home composting pro11 grams, community garden and urban farm 

12 composting, and other onsite composting systems at 

13 institutions, nonprofit organizations, and busi14 nesses). 

15 ‘‘(5) Projects that are based on a distributed 

16 infrastructure strategy (such as a strategy that in17 corporates a mix or choice of home composting, farm 

18 and ranch composting, onsite composting, commu19 nity-scale composting, or centralized commercial 

20 composting). 

21 ‘‘(6) Collection of organic waste intended for 

22 processing at a composting facility or system, or 

23 through a composting program, including curbside 

24 pick-up programs, community drop-off programs, 

25 and facility- or event-specific programs (such as proVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jul 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2388.IS S2388

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1 grams at schools, restaurants, stadiums, or fes2 tivals). 

3 ‘‘(7) Activities for land-based compost applica4 tion, including compost application on a farm or 

5 ranch. 

6 ‘‘(8) Market development projects that create a 

7 demand for compost product or increase commercial 

8 and residential participation in composting. 

9 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS.—An eligible entity applying for 

10 a grant or loan guarantee under this section shall dem11 onstrate that the project for which that assistance is 

12 sought— 

13 ‘‘(1) will— 

14 ‘‘(A) result in composting of food waste 

15 (which may include such composting in com16 bination with non-food organic waste); 

17 ‘‘(B) result in increased total capacity to 

18 accept and process food waste into finished 

19 compost product; and 

20 ‘‘(C) include at least 1 operator of a facil21 ity or system, if applicable, who is trained on 

22 best management practices for composting 

23 (such as odor, vector, pathogen, and contami24 nant control practices); 


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1 ‘‘(2) in the case of a market development 

2 project, is likely to create sufficient demand to in3 crease total capacity, in the targeted market, to ac4 cept and process food waste into high-quality fin5 ished compost; or 

6 ‘‘(3) in the case of land-based compost applica7 tion activities, is consistent with any applicable re8 quirements under paragraph (2) of section 1241(j) 

9 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 

10 3841(j)). 

11 ‘‘(g) PRIORITY FACTORS.—In awarding grants and 

12 loan guarantees under this section, the Secretary shall 

13 prioritize projects that include the greatest number of the 

14 following factors: 

15 ‘‘(1) The project is located in or serving a loca16 tion with significant access to food waste and no or 

17 limited prior access to food waste composting. 

18 ‘‘(2) The project demonstrates the potential to 

19 create new capacity for the volume or weight of food 

20 waste collected and processed, or make significant 

21 gains in the number of people with access to food 

22 waste composting facilities or systems. 

23 ‘‘(3) The project includes a demonstrated plan 

24 for following best management practices and pro25 ducing a high-quality compost product. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The project incorporates the participation 

2 of small and diverse businesses (such as minority-, 

3 woman-, and veteran-owned businesses certified by 

4 the Small Business Administration or under a State 

5 program or another recognized certification program 

6 and other businesses led by Black people, Indigenous 

7 people, or other people of color). 

8 ‘‘(5) The project creates opportunities for hir9 ing and leadership development practices that are in10 clusive and provide living wages. 

11 ‘‘(6) The project serves disadvantaged and low12 income communities, engages Black farmers, Indige13 nous farmers, and other farmers of color, or incor14 porates an environmental justice plan or principles. 

15 ‘‘(7) The project is for a facility or system that 

16 accepts or plans to accept and process only source 

17 separated organics. 

18 ‘‘(h) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may award only 1 

19 grant or loan guarantee under this section for any project. 

20 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro21 priated to carry out this section $200,000,000 for each 

22 of fiscal years 2022 through 2031.’’. 

Æ 


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