International Compost Awareness Week

International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is a yearly PR campaign the first week of May organized by the US Composting Council, a front group for the sludge industry and companies such as Synagro, to promote dumping hidden sewage sludge on gardens and farms.

VIDEO: Be Aware! Your "Compost" is from Sewage Sludge.
Kathy Kellogg Johnson and the Kellogg Garden Products Company are very involved with the US Composting Council. Watch this video and see the hidden sludge in Kellogg's Amend. The sewage sludge industry hopes you will not be "aware" of their sludge hidden in "compost" during their PR push, "International Compost Awareness Week."

Jeff Ziegenbein of the giant Los Angeles, CA, Inland Empire Utility Agency (IEUA) coordinates the program for the USCC. IEUA supplies the sewage sludge "compost" that is resold by the Kellogg Garden Products company. Kellogg has been greenwashing its sludge compost by partnering with Hollywood's Environmental Media Association and dumping the sludge on EMA's school and urban gardens.

Contact

 * Jeff Ziegenbein, ICAW Coordinator, US Composting Council
 * Email: 
 * Website: 
 * c/o Inland Empire Utility Agency
 * 12645 6th Street
 * Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
 * Phone: 909-993-1981

ICAW Events May 1-8, 2011

 * See their webpage: 

Sponsors
International Compost Awareness Week is sponsored by several companies, including the following, which sell sewage sludge that is marketed as compost (and sometimes imply that this practice is organic, even though sewage sludge is specifically prohibited by the USDA organic standards:
 * A1 Organics (Named “2007 Composter of the Year” by the US Composting Council)
 * WeCare Organics

Additionally, sponsors BioCycle and Garick LLC promote composting sewage sludge for use on farms and gardens. Waste Management, also a sponsor of International Compost Awareness Week, owns a controlling share in Garick.

Other sponsors include:
 * BASF
 * BioBag
 * Chick-fil-A
 * City of San Jose
 * Coca-Cola Company
 * Composting News
 * EcoSafe 6400
 * Filtrexx International
 * GenPak
 * Ingeo
 * MSW Management Magazine
 * MWV
 * PepsiCo
 * REOTEMP Instruments
 * Resource Recycling
 * Waste Handling Equipment News
 * U.S. EPA Resource Conservation Challenge

Related SourceWatch articles

 * BioCycle magazine
 * Biosolids
 * Kellogg Garden Products
 * Sewage Sludge
 * Synagro
 * US Composting Council