Lease composting equipment when the tonnage, the site or the funding is still uncertain and you need capacity now: pilots, interim capacity ahead of a permanent build, gaps between grant phases, and seasonal or surge loads. Buy when the site is permitted, the feedstock is under contract, the system will run for many years and capital or low-cost financing is available. Many projects do both in sequence, leasing mobile units first and buying a permanent system once the data and the money are in place.

Key takeaways

• Leasing trades a lower upfront commitment for less ownership. Buying trades capital and commitment for control and long-term value.
• The decision turns on four questions: how certain the tonnage is, how permanent the site is, where the money comes from, and how soon capacity is needed.
• Only part of a compost facility can be leased. Pads, utilities, water management and permits stay with the site owner either way.
• Public agencies must check procurement rules, multi-year appropriation limits and grant conditions before signing a lease.
• SG’s leasing program covers the SG MOBILE® System, and SG states that leased units can later be added to, moved, or replaced by a permanent SG BUNKER® System.

What can be leased and what cannot

A composting operation is made of things that can be picked up and moved and things that cannot.

Usually leasable or rentable: mobile covered ASP units (blowers, aeration pipe, covers, probes and controls), loaders, grinders, screens, mixers and turners.

Not leasable in any practical sense: land preparation, working pads, in-ground aeration trenches, power and water connections, ponds and tanks, fencing, scale houses and buildings. These are site improvements. Permits, too, belong to the site and its operator.

This matters because a lease lowers the capital needed for the composting system, not for the facility. Budget the site work separately. The compost facility design guide covers what the site itself needs.

When leasing fits

Pilots and proof of concept

If the purpose is to learn (a new feedstock, a new recipe, a new site, a skeptical board or regulator), owning the equipment is not the goal. A lease or pilot agreement ends when the question is answered. Our guide on how to run a composting pilot explains what to measure.

Grant timing

Grant cycles rarely match project schedules. A lease can keep organics moving while an application is prepared, reviewed and awarded. SG’s leasing page names this use directly: meeting near-term diversion mandates or bridging gaps between grant phases.

Budget cycles

Public agencies and many private companies can approve an operating expense faster than a capital project. Where capital approval is a year or more away, a lease can start within the current budget.

Uncertain or growing tonnage

Collection programs ramp up over several years. Leasing modular units lets capacity follow the tons, so you avoid building for a forecast that may be wrong in either direction.

Temporary, seasonal or surge needs

Leaf season, harvest and processing peaks, storm debris, a facility outage elsewhere in the region, or a site that will be redeveloped in a few years.

Leasing does not fit when

• the equipment will clearly be needed on the same site for most of its service life;
• low-cost capital, a grant that pays for purchase, or bond proceeds are already in hand;
• the lease cannot be terminated or adjusted and so offers no more flexibility than a loan;
• the tonnage is large enough that fixed infrastructure (bunker walls, in-floor aeration) is the right design.

When buying fits

Buying fits a permitted, long-term site with contracted feedstock and a stable or growing tonnage. Ownership gives full control over operation, modification and maintenance, builds an asset on the balance sheet and removes periodic payments once any financing is retired. Large permanent systems are purchased, since they are built into the site.

Buying does not fit when a key assumption is untested. If you do not yet know how your feedstock behaves, whether the permit will be issued as applied for, or whether the tons will arrive, a purchase locks in a design before the facts are known. The lifecycle cost guide shows how to compare the long-run cost of the systems you might buy.

Decision table

Your situation	Lease tends to fit	Buy tends to fit
Tonnage forecast	Uncertain, ramping or seasonal	Contracted and stable
Site	Temporary, unpermitted for the long term, or under evaluation	Permitted and controlled for the long term
Funding	Operating budget available now; capital or grant pending	Capital, grant, loan or bond funds in hand
Timeline	Capacity needed before a permanent build can finish	Schedule allows design, procurement and construction
Purpose	Pilot, demonstration, interim or surge capacity	Core long-term processing capacity
Scale	Small to mid-size, modular	Large, with fixed infrastructure
In-house experience	New to composting; vendor support wanted	Experienced operations and maintenance staff
Exit	Need the option to stop, move or resize	Committed to the site and the method

If your answers split between the columns, a phased path is common: lease first, then buy the permanent system and keep or return the leased units.

Public-sector considerations

Rules differ by state and by agency, so treat this section as a list of questions for your procurement office, finance director and counsel, not as legal advice.

• Procurement. A lease is still a procurement. Check whether it must be competitively bid, whether a cooperative purchasing contract applies, and whether a later purchase from the same vendor needs its own solicitation.
• Multi-year obligations. Many public bodies cannot commit future budgets without specific authority. Ask whether the lease needs a non-appropriation clause and how its total term is treated under your debt and budget rules.
• Accounting treatment. Whether an agreement is reported as an operating expense or as a financed purchase depends on its terms. Ask your finance staff before you assume a lease stays out of the capital budget.
• Federal grant funds. If federal money is involved, the Uniform Guidance applies. As of October 2026, under 2 CFR 200.465, rental costs are allowable to the extent the rates are reasonable in light of factors such as comparable rentals, market conditions, the alternatives available and the type, life expectancy, condition and value of the property leased, and leases that must be accounted for as a financed purchase or finance lease are subject to a further limit. Under 2 CFR 200.313, title to equipment bought under a federal award is conditional: the recipient must use it for the authorized purposes of the project and must not encumber it without the approval of the federal agency or pass-through entity. Read the current text and your award terms.
• State grant funds. Each program defines its own eligible costs. Some pay only for purchased equipment; some allow leases. Ask program staff in writing before you build a budget around either.
• Ownership at grant closeout. If a grant paid for equipment, check what the program requires about keeping, reporting and disposing of it.

The buyer’s guide for municipalities covers ownership and operating models more broadly.

What SG’s leasing program states

SG’s leasing program page describes leasing of the SG MOBILE System, a mobile covered aerated static pile system that uses the GORE® Cover and SG Advanced Composting™ Technology. The page states the following:

• Leasing is aimed at composters, municipalities, farms and processors that want to launch, scale or supplement operations without a significant capital investment.
• Leasing includes delivery, setup, system training and ongoing technical assistance.
• Lessees can scale up or down as needs change, add units, move systems, or transition to a permanent SG BUNKER System.
• SG lists four typical scenarios: startup facilities that want to compost while pursuing long-term site development; municipal programs meeting near-term diversion mandates or bridging grant phases; private operators adding seasonal or regional capacity; and agricultural and food processors handling surges or trialing on-site composting before committing to construction.
• SG says packages are tailored to the customer and asks readers to request leasing information.

The page does not publish lease terms, lengths, purchase options or service levels, so those are the things to ask about. SG describes SG MOBILE as installed in days to weeks, depending on the site; see the SG MOBILE System page for the equipment itself.

An example of the phased path

SG’s pilots page describes how Prince George’s County, Maryland, started with a pilot of an SG MOBILE System in 2013, kept operating and adding mobile units as demand from food waste haulers grew, and in 2018 moved to a permanent installation of 12 SG BUNKER Systems. The page does not say how the county’s early units were contracted, so it is not evidence about leasing specifically. It does show the sequence that a lease is meant to support: prove the process at small scale, grow with modular units, then commit capital. The project profile has more detail.

Questions to ask about any lease

Use this checklist with any lessor, including SG.

1. What exactly is included: which components, how many units, what batch size or annual tonnage do they support?
2. What is the term, and what are the options at the end: return, renew, extend, or purchase?
3. Do any lease payments count toward a later purchase of the same or a permanent system?
4. Can units be added or returned during the term, and on what notice?
5. Who pays for delivery, setup, commissioning, removal and return freight?
6. What training and technical support are included, for how long, and is support on site or remote?
7. Who maintains the equipment, who supplies spare parts, and who bears the cost of normal wear, especially on covers?
8. Who carries insurance, and who bears the risk of damage from loaders, fire or weather?
9. Is the monitoring and control software included, who owns the process data, and can you export it for permits and grant reports?
10. What site preparation must you provide before delivery: pad, power, water, drainage?
11. Can the equipment be moved to another site during the term?
12. What happens if a permit is delayed or denied, or if a public budget is not appropriated?
13. Which performance statements is the lessor willing to put in the agreement, and under what test conditions?
14. Will the lessor supply the documents a permit or grant application needs?

How to decide in five steps

1. Write down what is still uncertain: tonnage, feedstock behavior, permit, site tenure, funding.
2. Estimate how long each uncertainty will last. If the answer is months to a few years, a lease or pilot covers that period.
3. Separate site costs from system costs so that you compare like with like.
4. Compare the total cost of leasing for the realistic period against the total cost of owning, using your own finance staff’s method. Include support, maintenance and the value of flexibility.
5. Decide the exit before you sign: what result would lead you to buy, extend or stop.

FAQ

Is leasing cheaper than buying?

Not over a long period. A lease that runs for most of the equipment’s life will normally cost more in total than a purchase, because the lessor carries the capital and the risk. Leasing is the better choice when the period is short or the future is uncertain, and when included support has real value to a new operator.

Can a leased system be used for a permit application?

A leased or pilot system can generate the operating data an application needs, such as temperatures, batch records and emissions or odor observations. The permit itself is issued for a site and an operator, and the agency decides what data it accepts. Our permitting guide explains the permit families, and SG offers permitting and engineering support.

Can grant money pay for a lease?

It depends on the program. Each grant defines eligible costs, and some fund only purchased equipment. For federal awards, the Uniform Guidance allows reasonable rental costs within limits. Get the answer from program staff in writing. The list of grants for organics infrastructure summarizes program status.

What does SG lease?

According to its leasing page, SG leases the SG MOBILE System, with delivery, setup, system training and ongoing technical assistance included. The page says lessees can add units, move systems or transition to a permanent SG BUNKER System. It does not publish terms, so ask SG for the term, end-of-lease options and support details in writing.

Can we lease first and buy later?

Yes, and it is a common path. Lease modular units to prove the process and build tonnage, then buy a permanent system once the permit, the feedstock contracts and the funding are in place. Ask before signing how the lessor treats a later purchase and whether the leased units can stay as surge capacity.

Next step

If leasing looks like the right first move, ask SG for leasing details and bring the checklist above: contact SG. For the wider funding picture, including grants and loans, see SG’s financing and grants page.

Related guides

• How to Fund a Compost Facility
• How to Run a Composting Pilot
• SG BUNKER vs SG HEAP® vs SG MOBILE
• Compost Facility Lifecycle Cost
• How to Start a Commercial Composting Facility

← All commercial composting guides

Ready to size a system for your site?

Send the SG team your tonnage, feedstock mix and site constraints and they will come back with a system recommendation.

Start a pilot · Talk to the SG team