Compost in Stormwater Bioretention Systems

Project summary:

The Compost Research and Education Foundation (CREF) and the University of Minnesota embarked on research to better understand the best uses of compost in the stormwater industry. It is critical for manufacturers, specifiers, end users, and regulators to understand these best uses so users can understand what performs well, suppliers can make a high-quality compost product, and designers can specify and receive a product best suited for the application. The team's goal with this research is to increase bioretention performance, confidence from specifiers and end-users, to minimize pollution potential, and ultimately to increase acceptance and use of compost in green infrastructure stormwater best management practices.

This project comprises two components; the first being a systematic literature review of compost use in stormwater to document the state of the science, identify knowledge gaps, and recommend areas for future research. The second component is listening sessions with industry professionals, the goal of which is to discuss and bring light to the concerns, barriers, and challenges to specifying/using/researching/supplying/optimizing/fine-tuning compost in stormwater applications and projects. Researchers will also highlight success stories and benchmarks upon which the team can build continued beneficial use of compost in the stormwater industry.