Frederick County, MD Executive Jan Gardner announced a new initiative to boost composting from food waste. The initiative is part of newly drafted legislation to help local farmers create composting operations with the use of food scraps, in turn creating a much needed resource.
The bill amends the county zone code that will no longer require farms to undergo a solid waste overlay floating zone, eliminating a costly hassle. “Currently our laws are pretty challenging to pass. If composting is going to be a piece of the puzzle, we need to make sure we facilitate that happening in the county. And we really want the private sector to step up and provide these private composting operations,” Gardner said.
Two different categories of food waste operations are outlined. One is for agricultural activity, where farmers with under than five acres of land may accept food waste from restaurants and individuals to be used on the farm.
The other is for commercial use where farms with up to ten acres may create compost to be sold. The bill sets regulations prohibiting the operations from creating any odor, dust or smoke and those facilities be at least 150 feet away from neighboring property lines.
Read the full story at https://www.localdvm.com/news/i-270/county-takes-steps-towards-composting-food-waste-as-sole-landfill-nears-capacity/1326648260.