Episode 26. New Earth Farm - John Cline
John is a self-proclaimed novice when it comes to composting and running a micro-hauling company. That didn’t stop him from starting New Earth Farm’s community composting initiative in St. Louis, MO. He asks the right questions, and doesn’t jump into decisions. Although, community composting is a passion, for it to be successful, you can’t think of it as a hobby, and John is doing a great job.
Episode #23. Java Compost
Married and with three kids, it’s incredible what the owners of Java Compost have accomplished in the 2+ years since they began. After New Jersey declared a statewide Organics Recycling Mandate they are in an ideal position to push composting forward in their region.
Buckle up for another episode of The Community Composting Podcast.
Episode #18. Kona Compost - Heather Guidice
Heather brought Kona Compost to Bucks County, PA and has big plans for expansion. Right now residential composting is her main service she offers, but with a potential commercial composting facility coming to town, she is looking to get more involved in diverting from restaurants, cafes, and other big generators.
Episode #17. Field Culture Compost - Matthew Nesbitt
Being one of the few dedicated composters in Alabama, Matthew, is positioning his company to be a success. Lucky for him, he won $100k in prize money from the business accelerator program he was part of when starting up. Listen to the episode to find out how he spent the winnings, and plans to take Birmingham, Alabama’s food waste by storm.
Episode #12. Black Earth Compost - Taking Massachusetts' Food Waste By Storm
After Massachusetts passed the statewide organics ban in 2014, Connor saw his company, Black Earth Compost, balloon in size over the next year. Surprisingly, he believes pig farmers are the largest food waste recyclers in the state, and sets a great example how to work side by side with other food scraps collectors, like Bootstrap Compost.
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.
Episode #4. Compost Crew, How To Set-up a Municipal-wide Curbside Composting Program
Ben Parry, is the CEO of Compost Crew, the community composter taking care of the DC area’s organic waste. Recently, the Compost Crew was featured in a high-profile Biocycle article. Please enjoy the episode and rate and subscribe on whichever podcast platform you listen to podcasts on.
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!
West Orange County, here we come! On Black Friday!
O-Town Compost would like to thank the 100 families and 6 businesses who subscribed for our food scrap pickup service in just our first year of operating. And, most importantly, we’ve managed to collect and compost close to 20 tons of food scraps, diverting them from Central Florida landfills.
Since we started, we’ve always had our eye on the west part of Orange County in communities like Winter Garden, Oakland, Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Ocoee, and Hunter’s Creek. Unfortunately, people who were living in those neighborhoods, and wanted to compost, have been outside our service area. Until now!
O-Town Compost is super excited to make the announcement on Black Friday this November 27th that the following zip codes will be serviced;
34761, 34734, 32819, 32836, 32837, 32821, 34787, and 34786.
If you subscribe on Black Friday, a special promo code will be applied for your first month free!
Also, for our current East county subscribers, our referral program still applies if you tell your friends on the West side of I-4 about our convenient food scrap collection service. When they subscribe and mention your name, both parties get two free pickups!
Take a Tour at O-Town's Compost Site
On the morning of September 26th, we will be opening up our composting site to the Orlando community for a tour of our operations. Come see how we have processed over 14 tons of food scraps into compost, returning nutrients to the soil. Also, there will be a permaculture component of the tour focused on growing local food and working with nature rather than against it.
It’s crazy to think how OTC has grown in the last year (hey 2020 hasn’t been all bad), and we hope to share the inspiration with everyone else. We’re not the only ones who want to see food waste recycling become commonplace in Central Florida.
After the tour, there will be a plant sale of mostly native Florida perennial plants that are easy to foster and maintain. Stepping out of the industrial food system and community composting go hand in hand, so we’re always trying to promote growing food in place of lawns.
The following tour times on 9/26 will be 10am-11am, 11am-12pm, and 12pm-1pm. Send us an email if you haven’t already to express your interest in attending. Masks are required for everyone’s safety, and you are welcome to bring guests.
Reducing Trash and Saving Money by Diverting Your Food Scraps
It’s hard to understand why composting is so necessary for the environment unless you take a trip to the face of the Orange County landfill. You witness the seemingly endless organic waste being dumped from dawn to dusk, the horrible smell of methane, and the loud beeping of bulldozers pushing trash into mountain-sized piles. It’s disheartening to say the least.
Our trash goes to OC Landfill on Young Pine Rd.
Compostable and recyclable material comprises between 70-80% of what goes to the landfill for disposal, meaning that the vast majority of what we throw away has a home either in your curbside recycling cart or with O-Town Compost’s composting program. This is the stuff that should be easy to divert right? Unfortunately, it takes a fair amount of education to teach people that there’s value in material even after it’s been consumed.
Also, not to let the corporate producers off the hook, but there needs to be greater extended producer responsibility (EPR). Some consumer products are just about impossible to recover, based on the way they’re made. DuPoint and Dow Chemical are great examples of Fortune 500 companies that would rather go to great lengths to get their single-use Styrofoam or plastic products labeled “recyclable” than actually shut down production and go a different route. Believe me, I’ve done consulting work for Dow Chemical’s Hefty Energy Bag Program, taking place in Cobb County, GA and Boise, ID, and it’s a perfect example of shucking responsibility and taking the path of least resistance to appear like they care about the environment. Green washing.
Despite the gloomy reality, a change is a comin’ (in the melody of Sam Cooke). The community composting movement is sweeping the country, and O-Town Compost is laying the ground work here in Central Florida to make it convenient for people to do the right thing with their food waste.
Right off the bat, after signing up, O-Town Compost subscribers experience firsthand a lighter and cleaner trash. The 96-gallon cart that most municipalities give their residents becomes WAY more than one needs. Less trash going to the landfill means huge cost savings for our local governments, longer life for our landfill, and a healthier environment. OTC’s subscribers should be rewarded with a reduced price on their trash services bill. For example, many Massachusetts towns have implemented a Pay As You Throw program, incentivizing its residents to waste less. Those who choose not to recycle their food waste, pay more. Basically, the program functions where households pay a variable rate for garbage collection depending on the size of the container they choose with the smaller the size being cheaper.
Saving $ with an OTC subscription
Having a black and gold O-Town Compost bucket not only reduces your volume of trash, but also saves subscribers money in the form of helping them buy groceries in right-sized quantities. Inevitably, everyone has food scraps that are inedible (banana peels, avocado pits, cucumber skins, etc), but it’s the uneaten leftovers and expired food sitting in the back of the fridge that really hurts the pocketbook. When you’re consciously separating your food waste from your trash, you begin to take note of your purchasing habits. “Maybe I shouldn’t have bought two containers of spinach, even though it was buy 2 for $5." Just one would’ve sufficed.”
In the next 10-20 years, our new norm will be to source separating food waste from the trash. For those who are getting on board early, it’ll be a lot less uncomfortable in the long run to adapt.
Composting 101
Charlie Pioli gives a presentation on food waste recycling, including vermacomposting and his reviews of different backyard composters. Why is composting better for the environment than standard recycling, and what is O-Town Compost able to accomplish on the community composting scene in Orlando, FL?
O-Town Compost's vision for the future
It’s been seven months since O-Town Compost entered the Orlando compost scene and we’re happy to say that we’ve been busy! Four tons of food scraps have been diverted from the landfill and turned into O-Town Black Gold thanks, in large part, to our dedicated subscribers!
The composting network has grown to a brigade of residential and a handful of commercial composters, such as offices, cosmetic retailers, and a coffee shop. We have our first Zero Waste Wedding under our belts, and were set to do more until the great COVID monster stomped through town, making social gatherings a thing of the past. Instead of immediately going into panic mode, we decided to diversify our offerings, and the On-Farm Composting Service was born to address the manure management headache that some stables and ranches constantly face. With our first stable on board, we are able to divert roughly 1,100 pounds of manure weekly, and create a beautiful soil amendment with a waste byproduct. A byproduct that some stable owners unfortunately pay to be hauled to the landfill.
Still, with all our small stories of success, we’re not quite comfortable yet. We have a long road ahead to fully address the waste problem and a lack of regenerative agriculture in Central Florida. Small isn’t necessarily bad for a community-focused business, but we’re going to need to grow in order to make serious strides in Orange County’s environmental landscape.
Right now we offer food waste collection in 16 zip codes in the county, or roughly a third of the land area. The public should look for an expansion in the next 6 months to West Orlando (West of I-4). When you request service on our contact page, we take note, and tally the number of requests from each zip code with the aim to get out there soon.
Another opportunity for growth is building our partner network. For example, stables, ranches, landscapers, etc. Any environmental operation that produces an organic byproduct that can be composted. We offer our partners a sharing of ownership on the finished compost product, and a solution to their waste byproduct. Imagine, a decentralized network of local composting facilities around Orange County, rather than the traditional approach in the waste industry, where there exists a giant, centralized facility. The benefits of small are that a smaller facility requires lower transportation costs, smaller operational costs when you are dealing with less waste, and, most importantly, the finished compost stays in the community! This, my friends, is how we break the hold of industrial agriculture and Big Waste.
Composting Continues
Well guys, we've made it to the middle of April.
We're still operating (food waste collection services are considered waste haulers, and that is considered an essential service).
Food waste is being created now more than ever (we hear folks asking for MORE buckets because they are cooking more frequently).
Some of you are gardening (it’s a good time to create a victory garden and stay resilient to shocks in the food system like this .
Amazing connections are occurring (keep up the good work, everyone!).
We send all our best to the O-Town community -
Featured
Orlando's Community Composter Diverts 2 Tons!
Thank you to our community composters that helped us achieve this milestone!
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.
Customer Feature - Kristi from the Hourglass District
Now Accepting Meat, Fish, and Dairy
For those who wonder what we accept, remember this slogan:
“If it grows, it goes.”
Basically, if it grew out of the ground, we will accept it in our compost program. The website’s FAQ page does a pretty good job at answers any questions you may have, but always feel free to contact us at info@o-towncompost.com.
Things We Do Compost:
Fruits and veggies
Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags
Paper towels, napkins, and paper plates
Egg shells
Pasta and grains
Meat and bones
Cheese and other dairy products
Things We Do Not Compost:
Fruit stickers (please remove from produce before composting)
Pet waste including excrement or food
Paper cups
Kleenex or facial tissues
Any type of plastics including most bio-degradable plastics
Pesticide infused products for killing rodents or cockroaches
The law according to O-Town Compost.