ABOUT

ABOUT THE

FORCE PROJECT

FORCE is Florida’s Organics recycling effort involving the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), and Public/Private Researchers.

The project provides a framework to promote organics recycling and research in a statewide effort to streamline compost processing, research, demonstration, marketing, and education in Florida.

This website was developed to be utilized by the four organics sectors in Florida, for agricultural, municipal or commercial purposes.

These sectors are as follows:

1. Feedstock Generators

2. Collectors/Haulers

3. Processing Facilities

4. End‐user Markets

MISSION

The mission of FORCE is to both provide a framework to promote organics recycling, and to serve as a catalog of information on statewide efforts to streamline compost processing, research, demonstration, marketing, and education in Florida. FORCE is Florida’s organics recycling project involving the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and entities from the public and private organics recycling industry.

How to Navigate the FORCE Site

A GREENER FLORIDA

The program objectives of FORCE include environmental research related to organic feedstocks from agricultural, municipal and industrial sources, the development of a wide range of organic products for Florida’s end‐use markets, as well as promoting the integration of feedstocks and technologies.

Florida’s organics, the largest portion of the waste stream, provides valuable feedstocks for the production of mulches, composts, growing media and soil amendments. With the state’s continuing drought conditions each year, compost can be an important agent in conserving water and helping plants retain moisture.

FORCE will advance the state’s organics recycling infrastructure by bringing together academic research, entrepreneurs, and users to evolve solid, practical solutions to problems. Since its launch in April 2001, a variety of field projects have been conducted relating to organics recycling technologies and products.

ENHANCING OUR HOME

Food waste, yard waste and other paper make up 27 percent of Florida’s municipal waste stream. The Florida Organics Recycling Center for Excellence (FORCE) is a clearinghouse of Florida organics recycling information that will demonstrate an array of organics recovery technologies and feedstock in a variety of field applications performed in Florida. The FORCE project will benefit Florida in the following areas:

Cooperative effort created between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and statewide stakeholders.
Feedstock:
- Provide information on environmental research and demonstration related to organic and agricultural feedstocks.
Collection:
- Provide information for transporting feedstock from generators to organics processing facilities.
Markets:
- Promote the integration of compost feedstocks and technologies.
- Enhanced waste conservation in soil during dry growing seasons.
- Enhanced moisture and nutrients to sandy soils
Standardize and unify Florida’s compost industry by serving as a clearinghouse for Florida organics recycling information.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

ABOUT

In 2001, the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) was appointed the task of recommending analytical procedures to ensure the quality and safety of composts produced by the Sumter County composting facility. The contractual requirements of the SAC were to:

Recommend environmental testing of feedstocks and products to UF/IFAS
Consult established standards, including those set for drinking water and the parameters listed in the EPA CFR Part 258, Appendices I & II
Consult other appropriate data, and then designate the parameters and types of analyses for those environmental measures judged to be important to the feedstocks and products

CHAIR

George F. Fries, Ph.D.

Independent Consultant and USDA Agricultural Research Service

(Retired)

MEMBERS

Lewis E. Carr, Ph.D.

LESREC – Salisbury Facility, University of Maryland

(Deceased)

Rufus L. Chaney, Ph.D.

USDA Agricultural Research Service

The SAC met its obligations and produced the following report, which contains the committee’s recommendations, satisfying all the contractual requirements of its creation.

SAC Report

FORCE PROJECT

MISSION

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

FORCE STAFF