Assessment of shipping costs and transportation issues of delivered bulk compost

Bulk compost is considered a low-cash value commodity produced by a young and competitive industry in California. One of the barriers associated with marketing this material to help meet state-mandated landfill diversion rates is transportation. A common anecdotal assertion is that a 50-mile (80-kilometer) transportation boundary exists after which point it becomes difficult to market compost. To determine if this barrier is legitimate and to understand other factors that influence delivered compost sales, five compost facility managers in California were interviewed for this project, and customer location and sales information were collected for one year. Results of the study show that collected data support the 50-mile barrier assertion. In addition to calculating distances of delivered compost, statistical analysis was performed to test the null hypotheses that shipping charges paid per yard are not different between customer types or facilities. Results of the analysis indicate there are significant differences between average shipping costs paid by different customer types and between facilities. However, data from only two facilities should not be used to infer statewide results. More interestingly, interviews with the facility managers revealed considerably varied attitudes concerning transportation.