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Composting of municipal yard trimmings reached new proportions in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, fueled in large part by state bans on landfilling these materials. Between 1988 and 1990 alone, the number of facilities grew from 650 to 2200. The need for composting sites, combined with the uncomplicated makeup of this portion of the waste stream, led many states to take a less aggressive approach to regulating facilities composting yard trimmings. In some cases, a simple registration process -- filling out an uncomplicated, short form -- was all that was necessary. Other states adopted regulations, although in certain cases, facilities under a specified size would be exempt from some of the requirements.
Years of operating experience have helped states understand how their regulations or guidelines need to be amended to address certain issues, e.g. site capacity, allowable feedstocks, etc. A number of states are revising their guidelines or regulations to reflect their growing base of knowledge. Massachusetts, for example, is drafting composting regulations, and is considering regulating large yard trimmings composting sites (processing around 30,000 to 50,000 cubic yards/year). Under the state's existing rule, facilities of that size are conditionally exempt and only have to register their sites.
Regulations for composting source separated organics are evolving on a separate, but somewhat related track. The comfort line that states seem to have with streamlining their regulations for yard trimmings extends in many cases to manures, clean wood wastes and food processing residuals. Traditionally, however, the level of comfort disappears when source separated organics from the solid waste stream -- typically commercial residuals -- are discussed. Until recently, incorporation of those materials takes a facility into a more regulated status.
Some states, such as Massachusetts, Maine and New York, have developed mechanisms that allow these source separated materials to be composted in a less regulated environment. There are specified limitations on the quantity that can be taken. Experience has shown that while these materials are compatible with the technology and feedstocks already being composted, there is a need for more aggressive management practices at the sites. As a result, states are looking at developing a separate category for source separated organics that falls above yard trimmings on the regulatory scale, but below mixed waste...