The
University
of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE), Maine
Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources (DAF&RR), and
Maine
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and
Maine State Planning Office (SPO) offer a regularly scheduled
award winning international Maine Compost School. The
objective of the
Maine Compost School is to provide training to people interested
and/or involved with medium and large-scale composting operations. This
course is offered as a certificate program and will train
personnel to be qualified compost site operators.
The
Maine Compost School
is
located at Highmoor Farm, a University
of Maine research
farm facility located in Monmouth, Maine. Participants receive classroom
instruction, laboratory experience and hands-on project exercises in
this setting. The classroom
and laboratory hands-on activities include:
-
Introduction to composting biology
-
Review of basic composting methods
-
Rules and regulations
-
Feedstocks
-
Equipment/New/Used/Safety
-
Siting
-
Site Management
-
Roles & responsibilities of
mangers/operators
-
Pile management
-
Disease suppression using compost tea
and compost
-
Record Keeping
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To
reinforce and illustrate the principles taught in the classes, different commercial, community
and farm composting sites have been selected
to be visited by the students. At each site the operators freely share
their information and answer the questions the students may have.
All along the tour, students are able to interact
with the
faculty
of the school. The
field
trips include:
-
a farm
composting and bagging seafood waste, manure, and other organics (Kinney
Compost)
-
a small-scale
municipal sludge composting facility utilizing the static aerated
pile method of composting (Wilton
Sludge)
-
an innovative
retail bagging operation (Living
Acres)
-
a
large scale invessel sludge compost facility (New
England Organics - Hawk
Ridge Compost Facility)
-
a large scale municipal
sludge composting facility (Lewiston/Auburn Water
Pollution Control Authority)
-
a
medium scale invessel system composting septage using agitate
biotechnology (Pat
Jackson/Tri-City Septic)
-
a
food waste composting operation (Sandy
River Recycling Association)
Certification
An optional examination is administered to
any participant that requests it. Successful completion of the exam
results in the awarding of a "Certificate of Technical
Ability." The exam covers the classroom portion and the field trip
visits and is given at the end of the session on Friday. Please indicate your interest in this optional exam by checking
the appropriate box on the registration form.
Enrollment Information
The registration fee for the Maine Compost School is $525.00 (US
dollars) for each participant. This fee includes all instructional
material, refreshments at breaks, lunches Monday through Thursday, assorted publications,
composting
video series and
field trip transportation. Participants arrange for their own
lodging and
transportation to school.
Please send
in your registration
early using the
registration form and the Payment
Form. Applications for registration are accepted until the 20
participants limit is reached. Letters of acceptance will be sent out as
confirmation of registration.
Refunds
The registration fee is fully refundable up to two weeks prior to
the first day of the selected Maine Compost School. Registrants who do not
attend and fail to cancel are subject to the complete fee. No
participant substitutions may be made at any time, without permission
from the school directors.
The Maine
Compost School reserves the right to change instructors and to cancel or
reschedule a program in the event of insufficient enrollment or
unforeseen circumstances.
Special Clothing & PPE:
The Maine Compost School does not require any personal protection
equipment or special clothing. It does suggest that you wear
work boots and bring rain gear.
Contact
Information:
Curriculum content
and/or optional
certification process,
please contact:
Mark
King, Environmental Specialist
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Solid Waste Management
17 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0017
Telephone: 207-287-2430
Fax: 207-287-7826
Email: mark.a.king@maine.gov
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Registration and/or
payment
questions, please contact:
Melissa Freeman
Maine Department of Agriculture
28 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0028
Telephone: 207-287-1132
Fax: 207-624-5040
Email:
melissa.freeman@maine.gov
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