SCR 70: Compost Awareness Week.

WHEREAS, Composting is a way of returning organic resources to the soil to restore the health of the soil and enable its essential function in the carbon cycle, grow healthy food, conserve water during extreme drought, provide resiliency during flooding conditions, and reduce water consumption and nonpoint pollution, and is a proven method of decreasing dependence on chemical fertilizers, decreasing erosion, and remediating fire damaged lands; and

WHEREAS, Composting is an effective form of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, and, because organic materials make up over 30 percent of the material entering landfills, composting is becoming one of the primary methods communities use to reach waste diversion goals and create sustainable communities; and

WHEREAS, Organic residual materials, including yard trimmings, vegetable cuttings, biosolids, food scraps, manures, rice hulls, almond hulls, and hay shavings, are being composted and converted into beneficial compost products; and

WHEREAS, Communities, state and local governments, highway departments, soil conservation service and extension offices, farmers, and public works agencies can have a significant impact on clean water, soil, climate change, and landfill diversion by using compost in public spaces, such as parks, road medians, gardens, and farms, and for public works projects; and

WHEREAS, Composting creates green jobs and infrastructure for cities and states that implement composting programs; and

WHEREAS, International Compost Awareness Week is a public education initiative to showcase compost production and demonstrate compost use; and

WHEREAS, The Compost Research and Education Foundation, along with Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other countries, have declared the first full week of May to be the annual International Compost Awareness Week; and

WHEREAS, The International Compost Awareness Week theme for 2025, “Sustainable Communities Begin with Compost!,” was chosen to highlight composting in all kinds of communities at any scale, from backyard home composters to community composters to large-scale facilities and all those who recognize the many benefits of using compost on our soils; and

WHEREAS, Composting is essential for developing a sustainable resource management plan and circular economy, empowering communities to manage waste, creating jobs, and supporting healthy soils with locally made compost; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring,That the week of May 4, 2025, to May 10, 2025, inclusive, is hereby designated as Compost Awareness Week; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.