Compost Operator Course is March 21-22

Registration is open for the Ohio Compost Operator Education Course, a professional development course on large-scale composting set for March 21-22 in Wooster.

The deadline to register for the course is March 8, while the deadline to apply for one of four grants to offset some of the attendance costs is Feb. 26.

The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) is hosting the event along with the Organics Recycling Association of Ohio (ORAO). OARDC is part of The Ohio State University, specifically its College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).

For anyone working with large-scale composting

Compost facility operators, public health officials, farmers, nursery operators and municipal solid waste managers are among the target audience, say the organizers of the event.

The instructors will be experts from the composting industry including from CFAES and ORAO.

  • The first day’s sessions will cover composting principles, biology, raw materials and methods; site design and management; and compost testing. There also will be field and laboratory activities on pile sampling and measuring, the effects of turning, and compost properties.
  • The second day will look at minimizing odors, managing a composting operation, Ohio’s composting regulations, composting economics and marketing, landscape mulching, compost quality, and analyzing laboratory data.

At CFAES Wooster in northeast Ohio

The course will be held in OARDC’s Shisler Conference Center on the CFAES Wooster campus, 1680 Madison Ave., about 60 miles south of Cleveland and 95 miles northeast of Columbus.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. the first day and 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. the second.

Registration deadline is March 8

Registration for the course is $225 for ORAO members and $275 for nonmembers. The costs include materials and lunch and continental breakfast both days. Participants are responsible for their lodging, dinner and travel costs.

To receive the discount registration rate, join ORAO before you register; email mkress@summitreworks.com for more information.

Find the full course schedule, a mailable registration form, lodging options and other details at go.osu.edu/2018compostcourse.

Grant deadline is Feb. 26

ORAO is offering four grants to people attending the course: two $225 grants available to ORAO members, and two $150 grants available to nonmembers. Find details and an application form at go.osu.edu/2018compostgrants.

Participants will be eligible for the following continuing education credits: 13.0 hours Ohio Environmental Protection Agency wastewater certification, 11.0 hours Ohio Registered Sanitarians (approval pending) and 8.0 hours Ohio Professional Engineers.

Contact

To learn more about the course, contact Mary Wicks, coordinator of CFAES’s Ohio Composting and Manure Management program, at wicks.14@osu.edu or 330-202-3533. (Photos: iStock.)

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