Yesterday, the Sustainable Economies Law Center submitted a cartoon comment-letter on behalf of 29 organizations to CalRecycle (the CA Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery). CalRecycle has drafted regulations to implement SB 1383, a law mandating reduction of methane emissions through the diversion of organic material from landfills. Community organizations spoke up because there is a high risk that the new rules will create barriers for people doing small-scale composting. Already, many California farmers, gardeners, and composters are facing insurmountable legal barriers to their composting operations, so this letter asks CalRecycle to carve out protections for people transporting organic material to small compost sites, farms, or compost sites operated by nonprofits.

Our letter is filled with photos, case studies, cartoons, and facts. Check it out!

For more background on the issues, here's a short (and kinda silly) video called "A Scary Carrot Story."

Other organizations that signed the letter included:

1. California FarmLink
2. Northern California Recycling Association
3. Berkeley Climate Action Coalition
4. Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council
5. San Francisco Permaculture Guild
6. Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA)
7. Oakland Food Policy Council
8. Common Compost
9. Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE)
10. BioFuel Oasis
11. Planting Justice
12. Slow Food California
13. Center for Food Safety
14. Acta Non Verba Youth Urban Farm Project
15. The Gill Tract Farm
16. Ecology Center
17. Epic Renewal
18. RSF Social Finance
19. Richmond Grows Seed Library
20. Northern California Land Trust
21. Greywater Action
22. ReSoil Sacramento (Green Restaurant Association of Sacramento)
23. Everfux Technologies
24. Community Alliance with Family Farmers
25. Phat Beets Produce
26. Urban Sprouts
27. Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
28. The Butterfly Movement
29. And a long list of individuals named in the letter