Prince George’s County, MD – From Pilot to Flagship Compost Facility

Prince George’s County provides a textbook example of how a pilot or demonstration can lead to long-term success. In 2013, the county piloted an SG MOBILE® System with GORE® Cover to handle food scraps alongside yard waste. The goals were to determine if the new covered system could produce high-quality compost in a fraction of the time and control odors more effectively than their existing windrow operation. The results were impressive: the 8-week covered aerated static pile process outperformed their 8-month windrow process in terms of compost quality, processing time, and overall performance. The pilot demonstrated that even a 50% food waste mixture could be successfully composted within two months, yielding a nutrient-rich product (marketed as Leafgro GOLD compost) while effectively controlling odors and VOC emissions.

Encouraged by the pilot, Prince George’s County continued to operate with SG MOBILE® units and gradually scaled up over the next few years. They added more units to meet the growing demand from local food waste haulers, expanding the capacity to about 12,000 tons per year by year 4. In 2018, the county made the transition to a full-scale, permanent setup, installing 12 SG BUNKER® Systems as a long-term solution. Today, the Prince George’s County Organics Composting Facility processes 57,000+ tons of organics per year (food scraps plus yard trim). This facility is frequently cited as a model for municipal composting – it achieved a massive increase in throughput on the same site footprint, thanks to the efficiency of the covered ASP technology, and it continues to meet strict Maryland environmental regulations while producing a prized compost product for the community.

Prince George’s County’s Organics Composting Facility – a success story that began with a few SG MOBILE® Systems. The county validated the technology in a pilot (2013) and by 2018 expanded to 12 SG BUNKER® Systems (57,000 tons/year capacity).

This story highlights how “starting small” led to significant results: the pilot allowed the operators to refine their process and demonstrate viability, which in turn justified funding the expansion. Prince George’s County is now diverting tens of thousands of tons of food scraps from landfills annually, has dramatically increased its recycling rate, and even markets two types of compost (Leafgro and Leafgro Gold).

It all began by taking advantage of our Pilot Program to prove the concept.