
Cary Oshins: Cultivating Compost Professionals and a little on CA bioplastics issue
From The Composter Podcast by Jayne Merner
March 11, 2026 · 53 min · Season 4 · Episode 10
About this episode
Cary Oshins discusses the evolution of composting as a profession and touches on California's bioplastics legislation.
In Episode 10 of The Composter , I sit down with Cary Oshins — educator, consultant, longtime industry leader, and someone who has helped shape what composting looks like as a profession in the United States. For decades, composting has often been seen as something you just “figure out on the pile.” But as this industry grows it’s becoming clear that composting isn’t just a job. It’s a profession. Cary has spent over 30 years working in composting education, research, and industry development — from county government to Cornell University, to the U.S. Composting Council, Through the USCC he helped develop the week long intensive Composter Operations Training Course. Cary personally educated over 1000 operators through that course. In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to become a composting professional. I meant to stick to that topic but we do stray towards the end of our chat about the concerning legislation in CA that is impacting the bio plastic industry. We only touched the surface of this and we are going to need a whole episode about CA and this new compostable labeling law. By listening to this podcast you can earn continuing education credits through…
People in this episode
Host: Jayne Merner
Guest: Cary Oshins
Topics covered
- composting profession
- education
- bioplastics
- legislation
- industry development
Keywords
- composting
- education
- bioplastics
- California legislation
- U.S. Composting Council
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: U.S. Composting Council, Cornell University, Cary Oshins Training Scholarship, Compost Operations Training Course
Places: California
More episodes of The Composter Podcast
- Good Things Take Time · April 8, 2026 · 2 min
- Financing the Future of Compost with Jorge Montezuma and Paula Luu · March 25, 2026 · 1h 7m
- Produce Stickers: From Nemesis to Dialogue: A Conversation with Scott Howarth · February 25, 2026 · 35 min
- Veteran Compost and Closed Loop Partners on Capital Funding and EPR · February 11, 2026 · 48 min
- 40 Years of Compost Case Studies with Jeff Gage · January 28, 2026 · 1h 7m
- Arnold Schwarzenegger! Composting Innovation in Austria with Aurel Luebke · January 14, 2026 · 1h 7m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Composter Podcast podcast page.