Ohio Composting Industry Tour

This year’s Composting in Ohio industry tour in southwest Ohio will focus on managing water. The stops on the tour will feature, for example, a large-scale composting facility that recently took steps to better control its surface water runoff and a dairy-restaurant complex that treats millions of gallons of graywater in a system of wetlands.

Also covered will be preparing for a possible H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in Ohio and, if that happens, the possible need to compost thousands or even millions of dead poultry.

The tour’s target audience, said Fred Michel, event co-planner and associate professor of biosystems engineering in CFAES, includes compost producers, regulators, consultants, scientists, solid waste district managers, city and county officials, and farmers.

The tour starts at 9 a.m. at the Garick Composting Facility, 11000 Huntington Road in South Charleston, which is where participants should meet. It goes to two other sites in the area, then features three sessions by industry experts. The event’s sponsors are the college’s Ohio Composting and Manure Management Program and the Organics Recycling Association of Ohio.

General registration is $40 by Aug. 17 and includes lunch. Student registration is $25 by the same date and also includes lunch. Download the program flier and registration form at go.osu.edu/2015OhioCompostTour.