[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5267 Introduced in House (IH)]
103d CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5267
To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to
require the Secretary of Agriculture to develop programs to encourage
source-separated composting at homes, schools, and workplaces, and on
farms.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 7, 1994
Mr. Hochbrueckner introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Agriculture
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A BILL
To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to
require the Secretary of Agriculture to develop programs to encourage
source-separated composting at homes, schools, and workplaces, and on
farms.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Composting Act of 1994''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COORDINATION OF COMPOSTING.
(a) Composting Program.--Subtitle F of title XIV of the Food,
Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-624;
104 Stat. 3619) is amended by adding at the end the following new
chapter:
``CHAPTER 2--COORDINATION OF COMPOSTING
``SEC. 1476. FINDINGS, PURPOSE, AND DEFINITIONS.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
``(1) billions of dollars are spent annually on municipal
solid waste management in the United States;
``(2) a substantial portion of discarded municipal solid
waste is organic material that could be separated at the
generating source and composted;
``(3) approximately half of this compostable material could
be diverted from the waste stream by composting at home,
school, and work, and on farms, thereby avoiding at least 20
percent of the ever increasing social and economic burden of
municipal solid waste management;
``(4) the incorporation in soil of organic material derived
from composting enhances soil productivity by adding nutrients
and natural disease suppressing factors;
``(5) greater use of compost as a soil additive will reduce
erosion and run-off by increasing infiltration and
permeability, thereby discouraging nonpoint source pollution;
and
``(6) composting and use of soil-enriching compost on farms
is the most efficient and inexpensive way for farmers to move
toward sustainable agriculture.
``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this chapter is to establish a
structure to foster the development of source-separated composting and
the use of the resulting compost at home, school, and work and on farms
in order to demonstrate that communities can achieve `zero-discharge'
of these materials.
``SEC. 1477. FEDERAL COORDINATION OF COMPOSTING AND USE OF COMPOST.
``(a) National Composting Coordinator.--In order to make the
Federal Government the leader in composting and the use of compost, the
Secretary of Agriculture shall appoint a national composting
coordinator.
``(b) Activities of Coordinator.--The national composting
coordinator shall be responsible for carrying out the following
activities regarding composting:
``(1) Development of cooperative agreements with all
Federal agencies to institute composting and facilitate on-site
use of the resulting compost at Federal installations.
``(2) Development of Federal procurement guidelines for
obtaining source-separated compost for use on public lands and
promotion of the adoption of such guidelines by Federal
agencies.
``(3) Establishment of a soil conservation program for
compost production and use as part of the Soil Conservation
Service and a cost-sharing program for compost use as part of
the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service
protocol for organic matter management and soil loss
prevention.
``(4) Implementation of a `Zero-Discharge Community
Challenge', in which communities, categorized by size and
region, compete for national awards or grants rewarding those
communities that strive to achieve zero-discharge of
compostables.
``(5) Establishment of a clearinghouse for information
available to the public on composting and use of compost
generated by States, Government agencies (including the
Department of Agriculture), environmental groups, composting
organizations and private enterprises.
``(6) Establishment of a nationwide `compost from
cafeterias' demonstration program to compost organic discards
from school and workplace cafeterias together with yard
trimmings.
``(7) Development of compost programs in association with
restaurant, grocery, and other industry where food scraps are
generated.
``(8) Development of guidelines for the use of compost in
agriculture and public lands in conjunction with initiatives in
the Soil Conservation Service and the Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation Service and demonstration of the
suitability of the guidelines through the use of compost in
public programs.
``(9) Institution of outreach programs using the
Cooperative Extension Service to demonstrate backyard
composting for homes, schools, workplaces, and farms and
promotion and coordination of cooperative composting and
compost utilization programs involving farms and communities by
providing training and technical support.
``SEC. 1478. DEFINITIONS.
``As used in this chapter--
``(1) Compost.--Organic materials that have been
biologically decomposed.
``(2) Composting.--The term `composting' means the
controlled biological decomposition of organic matter into a
stable humus.
``SEC. 1479. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
``There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of
Agriculture to carry out this chapter $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal
years 1995 through 1999.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Such subtitle is further amended by
inserting after the subtitle heading the following:
``CHAPTER 1--ADMINISTRATION GENERALLY''.
(c) Clerical Amendments.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of
such Act (104 Stat. 3359) is amended--
(1) by striking the item relating to section 1446;
(2) by inserting after the item relating to subtitle F of
title XIV the following new item:
``Chapter 1--Administration Generally'';
and
(3) by inserting after the item relating to section 1473
the following new items:
``Chapter 2--Coordination of Composting
``Sec. 1476. Findings, purpose, and definitions.
``Sec. 1477. Federal coordination of composting and use of compost.
``Sec. 1478. Definitions.
``Sec. 1479. Authorization of appropriations.''.
SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF COMPOST USAGE AS CONSERVATION PRACTICE ELIGIBLE
FOR COST SHARE ASSISTANCE
The Secretary of Agriculture shall designate use of compost as an
activity eligible for Federal cost sharing under programs of the
Department of Agriculture promoting soil conservation practices and the
establishment or renovation of permanent vegetative cover.
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