COMPOST Act

HR3272, the COMPOST Act, was introduced in the 119th Congress on 2025-05-08 by Rep. Brownley (D-CA) and referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. With only 3 cosponsors and no committee markup or hearings, this bill is in the earliest legislative phase. Its substance is purely authorizing: it would require USDA to recognize composting as a conservation practice under the Food Security Act, amending EQIP and CSP programs. It also authorizes (but does not appropriate) a loan guarantee program for composting facilities. No dollar figure is attached in the bill text. The money trail is straightforward but empty. This bill sets policy direction—it allows USDA to spend conservation program funds on composting grants—but it provides zero new money. Any actual grants or loan guarantees would require a separate Appropriations bill. The Congressional action history shows three events, all on the same day: introduction and referral to committee. There is no companion bill in the Senate, no amendments, and no committee report with economic analysis. Structural winners and losers are hypothetical at this stage. If fully funded in a future farm bill or omnibus, waste management companies that operate organic processing lines (WM, RSG) and pure-play organics firms (CWST) could access subsidized capital or grant-funded feedstock collection. However, the bill's composting definition explicitly focuses on on-farm and community waste, not large-scale industrial composting, limiting the addressable market. DAR's feedstock stream could experience minor competitive pressure if more organic waste is composted rather than rendered, but this is speculative. No real market data is available for this bill. The sector lacks any price action or volume abnormality tied to HR3272. The bill's low cosponsor count and lack of Republican co-leads signal minimal bipartisan momentum, reducing its probability of passage in this Congress. Timeline: The bill must pass the House Agriculture Committee, the full House, the Senate Agriculture Committee, the full Senate, and avoid veto—all before the 119th Congress ends in January 2027. Given the early stage and no companion bill, the probability of enactment within this Congress is below 10%.