BioCycle November 2010, Vol. 51, No. 11, p. 15
BioCycle announces new version of online directory of composting facilities in North America, a free service to users and facility operators. Visit www.findacomposter.com.
Nora Goldstein

IN APRIL 2007, BioCycle launched www.findacomposter.com, a publicly searchable database of composting facilities in the United States and Canada. The intent – then and now – was to make it easy to find composting facilities to divert organic waste streams as well as buy compost. This online directory is a free service to all visitors, as well as to those composting operations listing their facilities. After a facility manager completes the data entry form, the information is verified by BioCycle editors before the listing becomes active.
The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) has sponsored BioCycle’s FindAComposter.com since it started. BPI and BioCycle collaborated on creating this online directory in large part due to a perception that the infrastructure to compost food waste was limited, especially in the U.S. Over the past four years, BioCycle’s www.findacomposter.com has become populated with sites that either are permitted to receive pre and postconsumer food waste, or that will consider accepting this material. Frequent users of the database are organic waste generators and/or their hauling contractors seeking composting sites to manage their materials.
NEW FEATURES
In October 2010, BioCycle introduced an all-new version of BioCycle’s FindAComposter.com. The home page is designed to be very user-friendly. For example, site visitors can enter a zip/postal code to do a proximity search to identify composting facilities within 50 miles of their location (Figure 1).

New features include: Full-text listings for composting facilities with the option for multiple facility photos as well as video clips; More powerful/flexible consumer search; Search-engine-friendly links and content to help interested parties find composting sites; Ability to integrate with social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook). In addition, visitors will find how-to composting and compost utilization information on the Resources page.

GETTING LISTED
If you are involved in operating a composting facility, please be sure to take advantage of creating a listing in BioCycle’s FindAComposter.com. All facility listings in the original www.findacomposter.com were migrated over to the new FindAComposter.com platform in October. Data fields have been modified, therefore updated facility information is requested. Photos, video clips and a more detailed facility description can be added to enhance each listing.
For composting facilities currently not listed in the database, simply start the process by clicking “Add Your Facility” on the www.findacomposter.com homepage. Currently, about 400 composting operations in the U.S. and Canada are in the database. BioCycle and BPI’s goal is to double the number of entries by the end of January 2011. BioCycle staff is available to answer questions on data entry and other topics (info@findacomposter.com).
All composting facilities, including on-site projects at colleges and universities, are encouraged to create a listing. We want to emphasize that there is no fee to either list a facility or search BioCycle’s FindAComposter.com. To grow the composting industry – and diversion of organic waste streams from disposal – it is critical to provide easy access to North America’s composting infrastructure, as well as the high-value compost and blends manufactured by these facilities.