Organic Materials Management

Here you'll find information on compost, mulch, grasscycling, and other topics relating to the management and use of organic resources. Definitions to many subjects and words are displayed as green highlighted links to the glossary. Choose the topic to the left that best describes your interest and learn how you can benefit from using and managing organic materials in your area.

What are "Organics"?
"Organics" means materials that are or were once living, such as leaves, grass, agricultural crop residues, or food scraps. Nature has a way of decomposing these organic materials and naturally reusing them...just as a forest floor becomes dense with humus. The decomposition process is called composting, and the resultant material is compost.

Site Highlights

• Organics Policy Roadmap and Schedule identifies six key issue categories and recommendations that were developed by CIWMB staff based on stakeholder input collected at the Biofuels Forum held on March 28, 2007, and the Organics Summit held on October 10, 2007.
• Increasing Siting and Capacity of Organic Diversion Facilities
  As part of the Organics Roadmap, the CIWMB has been working with stakeholders to identify actions the CIWMB could take to increase the siting and capacity of organic diversion facilities. This has resulted in eight options being identified that staff is further refining into specific actions. Staff will report back to the CIWMB before the end of 2008 through the Organics Roadmap, proposing a schedule of activities.
• Emissions Testing of Volatile Organic Compounds from Greenwaste Composting at the Modesto Compost Facility in the San Joaquin Valley Study (Publication released October 2007)
  The CIWMB's study of volatile organic compound emissions at a Modesto composting operation and the effects of two mitigation measures on those emissions is now available.
• CIWMB and Caltrans Hosted Erosion Control Workshops: Fall 2007
  Caltrans and the CIWMB conducted a series of workshops on using compost and mulch to improve roadside vegetation and reduce erosion.
• Comprehensive Compost Odor Response Project (Publication released March 2007)
  In 2004, the CIWMB initiated a project in partnership with San Diego State University to develop solutions to odor complaints plaguing an increasing number of facilities. The project, known as the Comprehensive Compost Odor Response Project, or CCORP, is a multi-faceted project that seeks to provide odor-management tools to local enforcement agencies (LEA) and to composting facility operators. The hope is that these tools will help prevent and positively resolve conflicts between facilities and the neighboring communities without closing or impairing composting operations. CCORP includes a research component that developed mitigation strategies to control the generation and/or emissions of common odorous compounds during composting.
• Compost and Mulch Producer Search Tool
  Locate compost and mulch producers by county!
• Organic Materials Management Demonstration Projects
  The CIWMB has a long-standing relationship with California's landscape and agricultural sectors to promote the use of organic materials through waste prevention and the recycling programs and projects.