2025 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit

Brenda Platt directs the Composting for Community Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where she has worked 35+ years. Her current focus is advancing distributed composting that encompasses composting at homes, community gardens, farms, and other venues. Brenda has authored numerous reports including Stop Trashing the Climate, Growing Local Fertility: A Guide to Community Composting, and A Growing Movement: 2022 Community Composter Census, and has worked on local, state, and federal policy. She also developed a unique hierarchy for reducing wasted food that considers issues of size and local circularity. In 2017, the US Composting Council (USCC) awarded her its H. Clark Gregory Award for outstanding service to the composting industry through grassroots efforts. Brenda has a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The George Washington University. She is a former chair and current member of USCC's Legislative & Environmental Affairs Committee.