Dive Brief:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached an agreement with Organic Resources Management, Inc. — and its parent company St. Louis Composting — regarding violations of the Clean Water Act.
• The company's facility discharged storm water into a Coldwater Creek tributary that contained suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand beyond permitted levels. 
• As part of the settlement, St. Louis Composting is required to pay a $24,000 penalty and hire a consultant to ensure that all six of its facilities in the area are in compliance.

Dive Insight:

According to St. Louis Composting's website, the company is the area's largest compost producer and processes one-third of the county's yard waste across its six facilities. It has also agreed to spend nearly $40,000 on four rain gardens at Trojan Park in the local city of Wellston as part of the EPA agreement.

Though composting is often thought of as a cleaner process than processing refuse or recyclables, it also operates under strict environmental regulations. California-based Sonoma Compost Co. was forced to suspend its operations at a landfill last fall after a federal Clean Water Act lawsuit brought by local residents.

Last year, Waste Management Hawaii was charged with a $400,000 criminal fine, plus $200,000 in restitution, for a landfill spill of contaminated storm water. The city of Berkeley, CA recently reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit brought by San Francisco Baykeeper over Clean Water Act violations at a transfer station and recycling as well.