Group Lead, Ved Krishna
Hello, hello! We couldn’t have asked for a better guest to kick off the new year as we welcome 2025’s first guest Susan Thoman on our podcast! She brings with her 3 decades worth of wisdom and as the Managing Director of Compost Manufacturing Alliance, her insights in the field of composting and
0:00 – own the company the composting company I work for own that company...
hello hello we have Susan Toman today in the house and she’s the principal and managing director of compostable manufacturing Alliance uh apart from that you wear a lot of hats Susan so I’m so excited to have you on the show thank you for taking the time and talking to us well thank you vet it’s a privilege to be here thank you for asking me superb
11:00 – supply chain and the compost piles together and co-create compost and compostables...
like does it actually biodegrade and break down to biomass and water in nature and not leave fragments of material behind it has to disintegrate in a certain amount of time just be visually break down you know you have to they do toxin tests and bio aades make sure it’s safe and you’re not going to get anything bad in your in your yard you know tha
22:00 – Challenge and also a lot of those fiber materials are treated you...
but there’s certain categories that could be a real Challenge and also a lot of those fiber materials are treated you know with something and so you know and they have to they have to meet the STM but at the same time you know are some of those treatments even if they’re not toxic or anything are they inhibiting the microbes from eating it for some
33:00 – Federal composting act so we have composting everywhere and can get funding...
that food it and really just you know you know they’re they’re dehydrating it down to like sort of like a little soil and you can also use it yourself you could it’s high nutrient you could blend it with soil and use it in your potting soil or whatever but it does have a purpose but it would not be the equivalent in my mind to just making compost y
44:00 – come more from the product side of compostable packaging so so a...
in the end that’s right and in my state you could actually choose that comp it’s true well that’s good yeah I’m glad I’m glad they do that you know that’s what I told my children just bury me in a melum casket at a tree so that it you know be a radio yeah it’s just a body it doesn’t matter anymore but okay so so just of course you know like all the
55:00 – would say this the compost industry Marketing in the compost industry is...
the feed stocks as what’s the recipe by carbon to nitrogen do I have a good blend do I have enough in my um in my storage for the upcoming grass season so they they end up collecting wood certain parts of the year for the heavy Seasons when they don’t have the wood because they always have to have the balance of carbon to nitrogen all year long thi
66:00 – recycling do recycling early if you're going to do composting you composting...
have a durable plate they have a glass plate or ceramic plate but they’re Cutlery and they’re portion cups and all that they’re their cups they’re all compostable one bin and other than the like kids kids toys that they give out they have a little tiny you know container for that plastic wrapper but everything everything else compostable let’s simp
77:00 – my experience with legislation I've seen legislation that's considered the model legislation...
is not okay so so you know of course but we won’t go down that rabit hole I want to I want to understand from you more uh on the side of your involvement with policy and how you’re seeing that so change in order to get a voice for the composters and the compostables and and I’m sure that’ll make a big impact yeah well I think my best experience is
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