Research snapshot · Waste · 31 August 2026

Composting across the country: 48 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 64 dated municipal records flagged as composting, spanning 48 municipalities across 15 states. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

ScopeAcross the countryMaineMassachusettsNew Hampshire

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in California, 20 April 2009. Since then 48 municipalities in 15 states have put the topic on a meeting record, at very different speeds: Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island hold 62% of the dated events between them.

The last 90 days put 7 meetings on the record, down from 14 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Conservation Commission, Lands & Conservation Commission and Sustainability Commission.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTownsStates
Sep 2025 to Nov 2025000
Dec 2025 to Feb 202624189
Mar 2026 to May 202616146
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)862

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 24 meetings.

Where it is moving15 states

The same topic at different speeds in different states. A state's name opens its own page where one exists.
StateTowns on the recordMeetings, 90 daysLatest
Maine126 ▲ +20.0%2026-08-19
Massachusetts802026-05-07
New Hampshire502026-01-13
Rhode Island lighter read402026-04-08
Connecticut lighter read41 ▼ -50.0%2026-08-12
Illinois lighter read302026-03-03
Vermont lighter read302024-02-01
Maryland lighter read202026-03-02
Alabama lighter read102026-02-18
California lighter read102009-04-20
Delaware lighter read102020-09-15
Michigan lighter read102026-03-11
New York lighter read102026-01-15
Arkansas lighter read10
Nevada lighter read10

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

19 August 2026 · Biddeford, Maine Recycling and Waste Management Commission

the meeting packet, on the town's own site Recycling and Solid Waste Management Commission 2026-08-19 — Recycling & Solid Waste Management

12 August 2026 · Trumbull, Connecticut

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-12

10 August 2026 · Falmouth, Maine Town Council

the document, on the town's own site Council Work Plan Priorities FY26-27.pdf

14 July 2026 · South Portland, Maine City Council Workshop

the document, on the town's own site CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - Jul 14 2026 — 2026-07-14

Companies on this record168 companies, 52 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
CasellaDurham, Plaistow, York
MSAD51Cumberland, North Yarmouth
AECOMBiddeford, La Mesa, Takoma Park
Casella Waste SystemsBiddeford, Durham, Takoma Park
ecomaineFreeport, North Yarmouth
OceanviewCumberland, Falmouth
Advanced Drainage SystemsBiddeford, Takoma Park
AES CorporationBiddeford, Takoma Park
AirgasBiddeford, Takoma Park
AmazonBiddeford, Takoma Park
American Water WorksBiddeford, Takoma Park
ArcadisBiddeford, Takoma Park
AT&TBiddeford, Takoma Park
CDW CorporationBiddeford, Takoma Park
Chittenden Solid Waste DistrictColchester, Shelburne
MikeAttleboro, Cumberland
TrexBarrington, North Yarmouth
CCLTCumberland
ComEdSkokie
Cook County Clerk’s OfficeSkokie
Illinois Science + Technology ParkSkokie
Maine School Administrative District #51Cumberland
Annie’s RestaurantSkokie
Back O’ Beyond, Inc.Danbury
Back to Earth CompostMalvern
BallotpediaSkokie
BaykeeperCumberland
Best Real Estate, Inc.Kennebunk
Biddeford Pool Conservation TrustBiddeford
Boys and Girls ClubsHanover Park

And 138 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 6 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Each state's name above opens its own page. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Composting, across the country

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Across the country

Area

Waste

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

48

with a dated document on this topic

States on the record

15

counted from the record

Earliest

20 April 2009

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

7 against 14 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours