FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Spring 2015 Contact: Linda Norris-Waldt, Marketing Manager [email protected]/301-897-2715 Composting Council Members Gear Up for Compost Awareness Week during International Year of Soil Compost manufacturers and sellers around the United States are preparing for the annual week marking the increasing importance of compost as a benefit to world soil and smart resource management with the approach of International Compost Awareness Week May 3-9, 2015. The winning poster, one of 226 entries from around the world on the theme Be Loyal To Your Soil—Compost! is the visible symbol of International Compost Awareness Week and is going up on the walls of compost businesses, city, town and statehouse offices, libraries and parks around the US this month. To order more posters, go to www.compostingcouncil.org/icawstuff. To see what’s happening around the country for I.C.A.W., go to the USCC’s International Compost Awareness Week Events Calendar, at http://compostingcouncil.org/icawpress-and-events/ where events can also be added. This year’s theme, Be Loyal To Your Soil-Compost! generated more than 225 entries from around the world. The winner of the design contest was Emily Mozzone, a 12th grader from Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, WA. “This contest grows every year in notoriety, and its great that we had such a great response during the International Year of Soils,” said Jeff Ziegenbein, chair of the USCC’s International Compost Awareness Week Committee and project manager for Inland Empire Regional Composting Authority in California. International Compost Awareness Week is an annual multi-media publicity and education campaign that showcases composting and compost products, from backyards to large-scale composting facilities. Sponsors of this year’s campaign include: BioCycle Magazine, BioBag USA, City of Los Angeles, Composting News, Erosion Control Magazine, Filtrexx International, Full Circle Organics, Georgia Recycling Coalition, Grab ‘N Grow, Keep America Beautiful, Natur-Bag, Reotemp, VoncoII Waste Management Campus, and WeCare Organics. The U.S. Composting Council is a national organization dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of the composting industry. Established in 1990, the USCC achieves this mission by supporting and performing compost-related research, promoting best management practices, establishing standards, educating professionals and the public about the benefits of composting and using finished compost. USCC members include compost producers, marketers, equipment manufacturers, product suppliers, academic institutions, public agencies, nonprofit groups and consulting/engineering firms. The USCC is a non-profit 501(c) (6) organization that also directs the Composting Council Research and Education Foundation (CCREF), a 501(c) (3) charitable foundation, which administers public and private research and education activities. ###