USDN Organics-to-Sequestration Process Guide—2021

Title

Redesigning Municipal Organic Materials Systems for Climate & Community Resilience & Equitable Economic Diversification

Authors

Calla Rose Ostrander, Phoenix Rising Resources and Shawn Rosenmoss, City of San Francisco

Publication

USDN, 2021

Summary

In 2019-2020, 5 USDN member cities—San Francisco (CA), San Luis Obispo (CA), Boulder (CO), Fayetteville (AK), and Cleveland (OH) worked with consultant Calla Rose Ostrander to develop a process guide and spreadsheet-based tool to optimize the capture and utilization of urban organic wastes.

The process guide provides a step-by-step process for:

• assessing existing organic waste streams;

• mapping and coordinating the primary waste stakeholders;

• assessing existing processing infrastructure;

• evaluating existing and potential policies;

• and evaluating potential processing sites.

This process guide can be combined with a spreadsheet-based calculation tool to conduct an analysis of the carbon emissions impacts of different levels of organic waste diversion and utilization.