[USCC] USCC/SWANA compost certification exam

[Matthew Cotton]

Reddy -

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) developed the  
"Managing Composting Programs" training course and certification exam 
as part of their overall training program. SWANA offers a three-day 
course which prepares folks to take the joint SWANA/USCC certification 
exam. While this is a comprehensive course (including classroom 
lectures, a course workbook, and a tour of a composting facility) it is 
not intended to be "operator training" though many operators take the 
SWANA course. As Risa mentioned, you can find a little bit more about 
the SWANA course at 
http://www.swana.org/sections/educate/training.aspx. My understanding 
is that SWANA will next be offering this course at WASTECON in Reno in 
Fall 2007. The SWANA course was designed specifically for the 
certification exam.

There is also a one-day course (Foundations of Composting) which is 
offered as part of the USCC Annual Conference to be held next January 
in Orlando, Florida 
(http://www.compostingcouncil.org/section.cfm?id=31) This is an 
intensive one-day course covering the basic fundamentals of composting. 
The Foundations of Composting course was not designed specifically with 
the SWANA/USCC certification exam in mind, though many folks with some 
background in composting, or operators with field experience but whom 
have never taken a "classroom" style class, or anyone who wants a 
refresher prior to taking the exam, take the FOC course and then take 
the SWANA/USCC exam.

Again, neither the SWANA Managing Composting Programs or the 
Foundations of Composting are operator training courses. There are a 
number of excellent operator training courses given in various 
locations around the US (you can search for "Compost Operator Training" 
and you'll get a number of links). Most are given once per year, though 
some are more frequent. There is a fair amount of variation in operator 
training courses as well, some are one-day, others are as long as five 
days and include hand's on fieldwork. Some of these operator training 
courses offer exams at the conclusion of the course and a smaller 
amount are eligible for certification by their state regulatory agency 
(a number of states have some type of "operator certification" 
requirement). Neither the SWANA Managing Composting Programs Course nor 
the Foundations of Composting Course is accepted as meeting a state's 
operator certification requirement.

I hope this provides some clarity. To my knowledge, you can only get 
the syllubus and the reference material from SWANA. I can't speak to 
the value of "getting the Certificate" but probably close to 200 people 
have taken either SWANA's Managing Composting Programs course and/or 
the Foundations of Composting course and I believe most think the time 
(and money) was well spent.

Matthew Cotton
Integrated Waste Management Consulting, LLC
19375 Lake City Road
Nevada City, CA  95959
(530) 265-4560
Fax (530) 265-4547
mattcotton at mindspring.com
On Nov 10, 2006, at 3:44 PM, Reddy Ganta wrote:

> U.S. COMPOSTING COUNCIL 15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADESHOW
> Wyndham Orlando Resort | Orlando, FL | January 21-24, 2007
> The National forum for those involved in the development and expansion 
> of the composting and organics recycling industry
> CONFERENCE PROGRAM, REGISTRATION FORMS, WORKSHOP AGENDAS,
> EXHIBITOR INFORMATION AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE AT 
> THE USCC WEBSITE: www.compostingcouncil.org OR CALL THE USCC AT 
> 631-737-4931
>
>
> Composters,
>
> Can some body post the complete details of the Composter certificate 
> exam to
> be held  by USCC/SWANA on 24th Jan 2007 during the conference?
> What is the syllabus?
> What is the exam pattern like?
> Where do we get the reference material?
> What is the advantage of getting this certificate?
>
> Thank you.
> Reddy Ganta
>       M.S. Agriculture., M.S. Bioinformatics
> Agricultural Informatics Scientist
> GLORIETA GEOSCIENCE, INC.
> 1723 2nd street
> Santa Fe, NM-87502
> voice: (505) 983 5446 Ext. 107
> Fax: (505) 983 6482
> URL: www.glorietageo.com
>
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