New Route! O-Town Compost opens service to Apopka and Altamonte Springs!
We’re bringing our convenient odor and pest-free composting service to West Orange County! Current subscribers, please tell your friends out in Hiawassee, Apopka, Pine Hills, and Altamonte Springs that we’re servicing the following zip codes for composting pickups;
32808, 32810, 32703, 32701, 32818, 32714, 32811
Use promo code “COMPOST4FLORIDA” for $20 off when you subscribe on our website.
Introducing "The Community Composting Podcast"
It’s ironic that we’re producing our Inaugural “Community Composting Podcast” on Inauguration Day. Not to take away from Kamala and Joe, but what’s going on in Orlando right now to recycle food scraps is pretty dang exciting.
This episode interviews our team members, Christy and Rich, who thoroughly enjoy rescuing food waste from the landfill. There are a lot of interesting tid-bits about composting and the science behind it, as well as how the company plans to turn Orlando into a full fledged composting metropolis of the Southeastern United States.
I guarantee you’ll walk away with the warm and fuzzees.
SUBSCRIBE NOW & USE PROMO CODE “WEST ORANGE” FOR YOUR FIRST MONTH FREE!
Happy Holidays to the Orlando Composting Community
Dear O-Town Compost Community,
It’s been quite a ride so far. We’re proud to see that so many Orlando residents feel it’s necessary to recycle their food scraps, and chose us to make it happen. This community support means so much to us, and acts as a reminder every day that what we’re doing is making a difference.
Ultimately, O-Town Compost seeks to make composting as easy as possible, without pests or odors, in order to boost participation and fuel a county-wide movement. Imagine the Orlando metro area, with thousands of composting households. Whole neighborhoods putting out their O-Town Compost bucket, and admiring each other’s lush gardens fertilized by O-Town Black Gold.
It’s exciting the opportunity that composting presents as a viable solution to managing the 350,000 tons of organic waste that goes to Orange County Landfill each year. Sometimes this volume seems insurmountable! But we’re on track to grow into an organization that can handle it within 10-15 years. More importantly is the shift in the cultural mindset here in Central Florida. Our mission is to change how people look at their food scraps, and think twice before throwing a banana peel in the trash. This is going to take years, but that’s okay, because we’re in it for the long-haul.
Thank you for joining us along our crazy journey, and we hope you have happy holidays and a very merry Christmas.
Best,
O-Town Compost Team
PS. We’re offering composting subscription gift cards in 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year quantities. For more info, click the button below.
Creating a network of community composters
What happens when you tell your neighbor or friend about O-Town Compost’s convenient subscription service, and they subscribe? Well, first we make sure you and the one you told both get two free pickups as part of our immense gratitude and referral program.
Secondly, a network is formed of Orlando community composters. People who care about reducing their waste even when the price of garbage service remains the same. (One day we’ll have a Pay As You Throw program here in town). Thanks to the ones who subscribe, there are little pockets of residents around Orange and Seminole Counties diverting their food scraps from the landfill.
The food scraps start to pile up, and our routes become more efficient, using less fuel to collect greater volumes. For example, in the Delaney Park neighborhood, within a 7-8 block radius, you have seven O-Town Compost subscribers. Some of these people are going to use their share of black gold to create a lovely pollinator or vegetable garden in the front yard, making the neighborhood overall a nicer place to live for everyone, and inspiring others to be mindful of their ecosystem. Now that’s the beauty of community composting.
How to Build a Worm Bin with O-Town Compost
Worm bins can be a simple yet effect way to recycle food scraps into premium plant fertilizer (worm castings), or just to keep a constant supply of fishing bait on hand. Regardless, watch our video to learn how to set up your own bin. Or, for between $50-80, we can come out and do it for you, and get you started with enough Florida Red Wigglers to get you going. Email us at info@o-towncompost.com.
As a plant fertilizer, worm castings “contain all the essential nutrients that plants need in addition to enriching the soil in which the plants are grown. Not only can this fertilizer be used on nearly any type of plant, it can also be used directly on plants without burning them and can even deter unwanted insects. Worm castings can be applied as top dressing, side dressing, or worked into the soil.” - Gardening Know How
We Need Your Support! Contact a Representative Today!
O-Town Compost has been on the Central Florida community composting scene for 7 months now, and has been steadily growing. Our goals are to grow food waste recycling infrastructure around the region, and support sustainable agriculture while doing so.
If you like what we do, please contact your local politician and let them know about your support for our mission. An individual’s voice goes a long way in letting our elected officials know that O-Town Compost is making a difference. You don’t have to be a subscriber to see that what we’re doing is moving the needle.
We appreciate you writing an individual heartfelt message, or you can use the template below:
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Subject: On Behalf of O-Town Compost, Orlando’s Community Composter
Dear [insert title and name of city representative],
I am writing to you as a concerned [name of municipality] resident, who strongly supports striking a balance between economic growth and environmental conservation. In [name of municipality], wasted materials are mounting daily while the infrastructure to recycle that waste is substantially inadequate. Single-stream recycling has proven to be an uphill battle, as Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) fight contamination and cannot find end-markets for their recyclables. According to multiple recent studies, 99 percent of truck loads carrying recyclables in the County were rejected at Waste Management’s MRF last year, and transported to the Orange County Landfill as a result. That means that nearly 100 percent of everything we put out to the curb as residents is ending up trashed.
This is a serious problem as the state is running out of landfill space. Fortunately, we have another option to reduce our waste footprint, and that is composting our organic waste, which makes up a sizable 40 percent of all that goes to the landfill. Moreover, adding organic waste to our landfills contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, including methane and CO2.
O-Town Compost is a small-scale community composter that is making a huge impact with its food scrap collection service, converting both pre- and post-consumer food waste (including meat and dairy wastes) into finished compost for local agriculture projects, such as Fleet Farming. Its mission is to grow into an organization that can handle the majority of Central Florida’s organic waste stream (including animal waste, such as horse manure), and transition the Orlando-area into a circular economy.
Small community composting businesses, similar to O-Town Compost, are active in cities and counties around the nation and are proving that they can move the needle in keeping food waste (as well as pet waste and other organic materials) out of our landfills. This frees up space for non-recyclable trash, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions produced by our landfills. O’Town Compost’s model (https://o-towncompost.com/ ) is similar to Bootstrap Compost in Boston, MA and Rust Belt Riders in Cleveland, OH.
I am writing to you today to voice my support for their efforts in our community, and I would like to see [name of municipality] find ways to incentivize residents and businesses to use their services. Ideally, food waste collection and composting should save cities money, while solving our landfill challenges and beautifying our green spaces with organic compost.
I greatly appreciate your attention to this issue.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
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Here is a list of some politicians you can email, depending on which area’s jurisdiction you fall under:
Winter Park, FL
Steve Leary - Mayor of Winter Park, FL - sleary@cityofwinterpark.org
Marty Sullivan - Commissioner Seat #1 - msullivan@cityofwinterpark.org
Shelia DiCiccio - Commissioner Seat #2 - sdeciccio@cityofwinterpark.org
Carolyn Cooper - Commissioner Seat #3 - ccooper@cityofwinterpark.org
Todd Weaver - Commissioner Seat #4 - tweaver@cityofwinterpark.org
City of Orlando, FL
Buddy Dyer - Mayor of Orlando, FL - buddy.dyer@orlando.gov
Jim Gray - District #1 - jim.gray@orlando.gov
Tony Ortiz - District #2 - tony.ortiz@orlando.gov
Robert Stuart - District #3 - robert.stuart@orlando.gov
Patty Sheehan - District #4 - patty.sheehan@orlando.gov
Regina Hill - District #5 - regina.hill@orlando.gov
Bakari Burns - District #6 - bakari.burns@orlando.gov
Orange County Unincorporated (To find your district & commissioner: https://www.orangecountyfl.net/BoardofCommissioners.aspx#.XrAW_6hKjD6)
Jerry Demings - Mayor of Orange County, FL - mayor@ocfl.net
Betsy VanderLey - District #1 - District1@ocfl.net
Christine Moore - District #2 - District2@ocfl.net
Mayra Uribe - District #3 - District3@ocfl.net
Maribel Gomez Cordero - District #4 - District4@ocfl.net
Emily Bonilla - District #5 - District5@ocfl.net
Victoria Siplin - District #6 - District6@ocfl.net
First Batch of Compost Will Be Distributed to Subscribers Early!
To show our immense appreciation for our loyal Orlando subscribers in the time of the COVID19 pandemic, we thought it was time to give back, and move everyone’s distribution date up early. Due the shutdown, more people are at home cooking and gardening, and it just makes sense. This doesn’t mean that our subscribers WON’T receive their regularly scheduled share 6-months from their subscription date either. Everyone who selected to “receive” their share of compost will still be delivered an additional 20 lbs 6 months from the date they hit “subscribe.” All we ask is to please empty the bucket, and put it back on your porch for us to collect during a normal pickup day, so we can keep reusing them. (Fun Fact: The 3.5-gallon compost buckets are old cream cheese icing buckets from Publix!)
Four hundred pounds of compost is going out this week and next to our subscribers who selected to receive their shares, and 400 pounds are going to Fleet Farming as a donation to their urban gardening efforts. A total of 800 pounds of O-Town Black Gold will be recycled into the community to improve our soil’s health! That’s right…Thanks to your banana peels, flower trimmings, and coffee grounds we have finished the composting process on our first batch of compost! We encourage you to use it in your vegetable gardens, as a potting mix, or just sprinkle it through your lawn to improve the seeding process.
Isn’t #CommunityComposting a beautiful thing?
O-Town Compost welcomes three more zip codes into its service area! 32812, 32839, and 32809!
Due to popular demand, O-Town Compost is expanding its services. Are we still not servicing your zip code? Send us an inquiry to petition for your area! https://o-towncompost.com/contact
We track the number of customers in each area of town and regularly study our routes to see where new customers could be added.
O-Town Compost Celebrates Its First Ton Diverted!
Thank you to all our awesome subscribers and customers who are committed to food waste recycling in Orlando, Florida !!! It’s an exciting journey to be a waste warrior.
