Composting, from pile to policy.
The Composter Podcast treats composting as a working profession, not a backyard novelty. Episodes move between pile management, permitting, capital, labeling laws, infrastructure, and conversations with operators shaping the field.
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The Composter Podcast is a practical industry show about composting as a profession, a business, and a public infrastructure challenge. It is rooted in the working realities of farms and compost sites. The show returns often to the same core question: what does it take to make better compost at a larger, more reliable scale? Recent episodes answer that from several angles. Financing conversations cover grants, bank loans, catalytic capital, private equity, investment readiness, and the stress of personally guaranteed debt. Policy episodes look at Extended Producer Responsibility, California compostable labeling law, bioplastics, produce stickers, and the need for composters to enter regulatory conversations early. Technical discussions get into water, oxygen, odors, pile heights, aerated systems, depackaging, screening, separation, and operating when ideal conditions are not available. The show also spends real time on people. Cary Oshins appears through the lens of composting education and professional training. Jeff Gage brings decades of case-study experience. Justin Garrity and Caroline Barry speak to infrastructure, food scraps, compostable packaging, and policy activism. Jorge Montezuma and Paula Liu frame growth through financing, data, and industry networks. Scott Howarth gives the show a rare chance to talk with someone connected to fruit stickers, a tiny contamination problem with outsized emotional force for composters. The best episodes are patient. They do not rush past complexity. A conversation may start with a single operational nuisance, then move into manufacturing, legislation, consumer behavior, and systems change. The show also has a distinctly field-level sense of time. Permits take longer than hoped. Facilities need capital before they can grow. Professional standards form slowly. Operators learn by doing, but the industry is moving toward clearer training, better data, and broader collaboration. That mix of optimism and friction makes The Composter Podcast feel grounded. It is for people who care about soil, but it is even more for people responsible for trucks, piles, spreadsheets, permits, equipment, customers, contamination, and the next phase of composting infrastructure.
Made for: Built for compost operators, farmers, organics recyclers, soil-focused businesses, and industry-curious listeners who want practical detail. It also suits people tracking food scrap recovery, compostable packaging, and the infrastructure behind circular systems.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by treating composting as an operational and professional field with finance, permitting, training, policy, and equipment challenges. It connects everyday site problems to the larger systems that shape what composters can actually build.
Welcome to The Composter, a podcast for farmers and composters. I'm your host and fellow composter, Jayne Merner. Join me in practical conversation between industry professionals and farmers with a passion for producing high-quality compost. We are going to dig deep into the science, technology, and art of compost production so that we as composters can help enliven the world's soils.
A compost pile meets a loan application, and neither gets to bluff its way through.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical financing map for composters trying to grow without guessing.
The episode treats compost financing as a trust problem as much as a capital problem. Jorge Montezuma and Paula Liu move through philanthropy, debt, catalytic capital, and private equity with a steady grip on what operators actually face, which keeps the discussion grounded…
Jorge Montezuma and Paula Liu join Jane Murner on The Composter episode 11 to break down how composting projects get financed and what makes a facility investment-ready.
The Composter Podcast interviews Cary Oshins, a composting educator and industry leader with more than 30 years of experience across Cornell University, county government, the Rodale Institute, and the U.S.
A conversation with Scott Howarth from the Sinclair Group explores the history and future of fruit stickers, addressing composters' frustrations and discussing compostable labeling solutions.
Jane Werner interviews Justin Garrity of Veteran Compost and Caroline Barry of Closed Loop Partners about extended producer responsibility, composting infrastructure, and capital funding.
The Composter Podcast host Jane Murner interviews Jeff Gage, Director of Consulting at Green Mountain Technologies and a 2023 U.S.
Jane Murner interviews Nathan Rutz, director of SOIL and a longtime force behind Rust Belt Riders, about scaling a Cleveland composting operation from bicycles and buckets.
Dan Goossen of Green Mountain Compost in Williston, Vermont, says about a quarter cup of persistent herbicide in horse manure ruined more than 10,000 cubic yards of compost in 2012.
The host visits Austria and Slovenia to explore composting innovation, touring Comtech factories and observing efficient lean manufacturing practices while reflecting on the local homesteading lifestyle.
This episode features an interview with Robert Rynk and Matthew Cotton, authors of The Composting Handbook, discussing their recent composting workshop tour in Australia and insights on compost production for farmers.
This episode features an interview with Steven Wisbaum of Champlain Valley Compost Co discussing water management techniques for compost farms to improve production efficiency and compost quality.
This episode features an interview with Michael Martinez of LA Compost about building community through community composting initiatives.
This episode features an interview with Todd Dunderdale and Brandon Lapsis of Komptech Americas at the USCC Compost Conference, discussing industry changes and conference highlights.