CCG-5 Project Timeline

CACC hosted two Q/A sessions on Monday, May 18th from 12-1pm and Thursday, May 21st from 5-6pm. You can view the recording of the presentation held on 5/21 HERE (Passcode: Huz3v0&j) and view the presentation slides HERE.  If you have additional questions about CCG-5, please reach out to us at info@thecacc.org.

No!  CCGS is a comprehensive support program at no-cost to you - in which selected participants receive technical assistance, training, infrastructure and equipment, and wages directly from CACC for launching a community compost hub. Selected participants will sign a business-to-business service agreement with CACC to implement their project plans and activities.  Purchases for all eligible and approved items will be made directly by CACC beginning in August 2026 and delivered to your project location, and personnel expenses will be tracked and paid through CACC’s monthly invoicing process. Support offered from CACC’s skilled team will cover many areas associated with establishing or expanding a successful community composting program, including  community engagement and outreach, site design and compost management, volunteer coordination, financial record keeping and sustainability planning, and strengthening co-benefits such as greening spaces and educating the public.  By applying, you are stating your interest to participate in the CCG-5 program timeline, objectives and commitments.

CACC defines community composting as any organics recovery program for public benefit and/or for locally-distributed benefits oriented towards communities of moderate income or below, to process locally-generated organic materials, including green materials, agricultural materials, food materials, and vegetative food materials, on a small-scale within the same community where these materials are generated and which operates both a) to achieve community, social, economic, and environmental well-being and b) without compounding local or systemic environmental or social justice issues.

The open call for Letters of Interest (LOI) to participate in CCG-5 begins on May 22, 2026! All applicants must complete CACC’s online form HERE and upload a copy of their LOI to be considered.  LOIs will be accepted on a rolling basis, with a priority deadline of May 31, 2026, and a secondary deadline of June 21, 2026.  Applicants who meet all program eligibility requirements will receive an interview, and may then be asked to complete a full application due by 11:59pm on July 2.  Final site selections will be made by August 2026.

Please make sure your LOI addresses these four items:

1. Brief mission and history of your organization and/or project collaboration

2. Current community-based project work and project resources

3. Past and present impacts of your project work

4. Project vision for community compost hub with support from CCG-5

You will need to upload your letter directly in the LOI online form.  Please use the following guidelines for writing and submitting your LOI:

• Please keep your letter to less than 10 pages

• We’d appreciate the use of an easily legible font and text size

• Be sure to include your project name at the top of your letter

• Document type(s) we accept are Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF less than 10MB

To be eligible, Lead and Non-Lead applicants must be one of the following entity types:

• Local government (who MUST be in formal partnership with a local community-based organization to implement project activities at the compost site in order to apply) and may include:

  • Cities, towns, and/or counties

  • Regional or local sanitation districts, municipal solid waste divisions, and/or joint powers authorities

  • +1 bonus point for collaborative local government-sponsored projects

• Private, for-profit business (NOT including solid waste enterprises, franchised haulers, de-packaging operations, or environmental services providers)

• Nonprofit, community-based, and/or civic organizations

• Schools and universities

• Correctional facility

• California native tribes

  • +1 bonus point for tribal-led projects

The Lead applicant must have (or can secure before applying):

• A project that creates new or expands existing community composting capacity

• A project site located in California and open to the public for at least 4 hrs/week

• A formal agreement to use the site for composting through April 4, 2028

• General liability and worker’s compensation insurance coverage

The project scope should:

• Be located in, serve, and/or benefit Priority Populations as defined by ARB Priority Population Tool

• Meet CCG-5 objectives to advance pathways for community compost hubs that maximize compost production and achieve sustainable operations

Yes!  CACC will review all LOIs regardless of location.  CACC’s site selection process will prioritize applications who are located within or benefiting Priority Populations in the following ranked order:

4. Project sites located in and serving disadvantaged communities

3. Project sites located in and serving disadvantaged and low-income communities

2. Project sites located in and serving low-income communities

1. Project sites providing benefits to, but not located within, disadvantaged and/or low-income communities

0. Project sites not located in and not benefiting disadvantaged and/or low-income communities

Please use the California Air and Resource Board’s Priority Population Tool to locate where you are on the map of communities that California Climate Investments defines as disadvantaged and/or low-income.

***Note that some federally recognized California Tribal Lands do not appear indicated on this map (or others). CACC has already reached out to CARB, and will provide a follow up on eligibility. Please contact us to ensure eligibility beyond what this map shows. Also note, a project site located in a non-indicated area, at a verified low-income home can be ranked higher than zero.

CCG-5 is being conducted as a statewide program this cycle.  However, we still want to distribute resources and technical assistance proportionate to interest and needs across all areas in California!  As part of the LOI application process, please indicate your region based on the county where your project is located and as follows:

Greater Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and San Benito

Central Sierra: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne

Sacramento Valley: Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Placer, Sacramento, Shasta, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo, and Yuba

San Joaquin Valley: Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, and Tulare

Northern Area: Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Siskiyou, Trinity, and Sierra

Inland Empire: Riverside and San Bernardino

San Diego and Imperial Area: San Diego and Imperial

CACC will be offering assistance to interested groups for the duration of the LOI submission, review, and full application process. Please reach out to us at info@thecacc.org if you need assistance, have specific questions about your project idea, or if you have any general CCGS program questions.

In accordance with Senate Bill 279 passed in October 2025, compost operations with less than 200 cubic yards of material on-site at any one time are excluded from the state’s permit requirements and can operate stand-alone compost facilities without needing approval from local enforcement agencies or partnership with public agencies. If a project has greater than 200 cubic yards of material on-site at any one time but less than 500 cubic yards, it must be owned by a public agency to be exempt from facility permit requirements.  Projects between 200 and 500 cubic yards not owned by a public agency and any project greater than 500 cubic yards will need a full solid waste facility permit in order to receive and manage food materials.

There is no volume limit for on-farm composting operations that assist farmers and winegrape growers once every ten years to compost large amounts of agricultural materials onsite (e.g., when clearing an old orchard) and blend their biomass with offsite food and green materials.

If a project is processing greater than 500 cubic yards on-site at any one time of only yard waste and agricultural materials (no food waste), CACC will require the applicant to provide a copy of their appropriate tiered permit as part of your application.

There is no minimum or maximum site acreage or site volume capacity to be eligible for CCG-5 support.  CACC will evaluate your project in terms of right-sizing square footage with annual throughput estimates, and ensuring it is already in compliance with current state and local regulations prior to project selection and launch.  The maximum amount of finished compost that “excluded” on-farm or community composting operations can distribute offsite annually is 5,000 cubic yards.

It is possible for a project to qualify for no-cost support even if it is located in areas where municipal composting services exist as long as project applicants can document that the project creates capacity for new diversion. This means the material diverted to the project location must currently be going to the landfill and that local services do not currently provide options to divert the proposed source of generated materials.

CCG-5 participants will receive no-cost support for site development, project infrastructure and tools, trees, composting testing, and public outreach and education materials. Project participants will also be compensated for their time contributing to project activities at the project location.  Expenses that are eligible may include but are not limited to:

• Personnel wages (valued at $33/hr to cover base wages + fringe benefits)

• Composting bins, 3-bay, or windrow systems

• Vermicomposting bins or systems

• Materials to build composting bins, vermicomposting bins, 3-bay, or windrows

• Cement pads, gravel pathways, and storm water mitigation systems

• Aeration and/or irrigation systems for composting operations

• Solar power infrastructure

• Mechanized equipment to assist in high throughput capacity

• Basic equipment and tools to assist in composting or collection operations

• Storage containers for equipment and tools

• Security tools

• Fencing to protect/screen views of composting area

• Trees for windbreak/screen views and/or growing food

• Educational signage for composting operations

• Outreach and workshop materials for training community members, such as fliers, brochures, handouts, signs, social media, and videos directly supporting project

• Soil/compost testing and shipping fees

• Bicycles or tricycles, including e-bikes, as well as their service and repair costs

• bicycle trailers for feedstock collection and/or delivery of finished compost

• Compost thermometers and metrics tracking logbooks

• Bulking agents (carbon feedstocks) or chipping services to acquire carbon materials

• Permit and/or site inspection fees

CCG-5 participants will not be able to use project funds to purchase the following items: 

• Environmental review for project permitting, including the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) or related documents

• Purchase, rent, or lease of land or buildings

• Grinders and chippers

  • Except when the project participant(s) have a service contract in place where the ownership of this equipment will be with a local jurisdiction/public entity with a trained operator

• The purchase of or retrofitting of vehicles including cars and trucks

• Gas or diesel to power mechanized equipment

• Promotional giveaway items/SWAG (Stuff We All Get). Ineligible giveaway items include but are not limited to keychains, coffee mugs, water bottles, hats, t-shirts, pens, pencils, flash drives, reusable bags, magnets, etc.

• Costs deemed unreasonable or not related to project by CACC/CalRecycle

• Cash payments for project expenses of $500 or more

No… and yes;-)  In your LOI, CACC wants you to tell us exactly what you need, what you already have, and what you can source with additional support if possible to make your project feasible.  The more cost effective your project is in terms of cost per ton of material diverted from a landfill, the higher it will score.  CACC has dedicated $1.38M, or two-thirds of our CalRecycle grant award, to be directly spent on program participants for implementing project activities, public education, green spaces beautification, and workforce development.

At the upper budget limit, our team has estimated that a project processing 200-500 cubic yards of materials and that is also launching from scratch may need ~$150K-$185K in seed funding to develop safe and compliant project sites and acquire mechanized equipment.  We have also estimated that it may take between 15 to 20 hours per week of site operations and maintenance to manage weekly materials flows at this scale, which is valued at $33/hr to cover base ages to site operators and fringe benefits paid by employers.  CACC is prepared to maximize the reach of our CCGS funding resources and support the most amount of sites within our limitations.

SB 1383 Procurement Target refers to the requirement that California cities and counties buy a specific amount annually of "recovered organic waste products" (RWOPs) - like compost, mulch, renewable energy, or biogas. This mandate aims to reduce landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and is based on 2021 population rates or most recent waste characterization studies. 

Direct Service Provider (DSP) Contract is an agreement a local government makes with an outside entity (e.g., a landscaper, organics material hauler, or compost facility). It allows that entity to procure, use, or distribute RWOPs on the jurisdiction's behalf, allowing the city/county to count those actions toward its procurement compliance goals.

The Application Phase will run May 2026 - August 2026. CACC will first conduct targeted outreach to identify and empower qualified organizations from priority populations interested in scaling operations, followed by comprehensive site planning, compliance verification, and technical assistance to strengthen feasibility and good performance at higher capacity for each applicant. The Program Duration Phase will run August 2026 - February 2028.  CACC will coordinate procurement and installation of infrastructure, equipment, and tools needed to launch sites. Once operational, sites will process organic materials for up to 78 weeks, distribute finished compost locally, and host public workshops and demonstrations. Site operators will receive hands-on training, certification opportunities, and ongoing mentorship to support effective compost production, tree planting and tree care, community engagement, and data tracking for the duration of the program. Projects will undergo continuous evaluation and capacity-building efforts to ensure long-term sustainability and scalable impacts throughout 2027, and to communicate the many co-benefits achieved through community composting to the greater public at the Impact Report Symposium planned for February 2028.

Composting biosolids at a community composting site within the State of California jurisdiction would require a full Solid Waste Facility Permit.

If the composting site is on Tribal land that is in federal trust, then CalRecycle would need more details to determine if a full permit is applicable. If a full permit is needed, then the site would need to obtain the permit prior to CalRecycle funding the composting activity (and the costs of the permits are not eligible for reimbursement through CCGS).

Please see AB 411 (Caring About the Terrain, Livestock, and Ecosystems-CATTLE) Act).

Carcass composting cannot occur until Best Management Practices are adopted by California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in collaboration with CalRecycle and State Water Resources Control Board. Note that the BMPs are still under development by CDFA. Therefore, activities cannot occur or comply with this requirement until the BMPs are finalized and adopted by CDFA.

Carcass composting is only allowed on an agricultural site owned or leased by the owner of the livestock carcasses, and total material must be <100 cubic yards.