PC Recycling District’s Compost Makes the Grade

recyclePorter County residents who take advantage of compost from the Valparaiso, Boone Grove or Crocker compost sites are taking home quality material, according to A&L Great Lakes Laboratories, Inc., a third party hired by the district to analyze the compost.

A&L determined that the compost meets the U.S. Composting Council’s Seal of Testing Assurance standards.

Testing our product is a good way for us to validate our work,” said Therese Davis, executive director of the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County.

Though compost producers are not required to have their compost tested, meeting these standards identifies quality so users know what they are getting.

The numbers are good,” Davis said. “If we screened it, we’d have a marketable product. It meets the requirements for health, safety and maturity.”

In order to determine if the compost meets the standards of the U.S. Composting Council’s Seal of Testing Assurance, manufacturers are required to perform the C10 test that identifies and measures elements including solids, total nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, pH, soluble salts, organic matter, fecal coli form MPN Class A), Aggregate Size Distribution, Germination, Respiration and 503 Heavy Metals.

A&L Great Lakes Laboratories, Inc. is approved by the U.S. Composting Council for conducting the C10.

The test results of all three compost sites are available for public viewing at the Recycling and Waste Reduction District’s administration office, 155 Indiana Ave., Ste. 314, Valparaiso.

All three sites are registered with the state through the district. Only the Valparaiso site, 2150 W. Lincolnway, and Boone Grove site, 546 S. 400 W., are open to all Porter County residents. The Crocker site on Tower Road is not open to the public. The Town of Chesterton takes the finished product to its street department where Chesterton residents can haul it away.

For more information on the Porter County compost sites, visit www.ItMeansTheWorld.org or call 465-3694.