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!

Slinging Buckets and Composting Orlando's Food Waste

O-Town Compost’s Charlie Pioli, gives you a look into Orlando’s community composting business with his big plans for the future. It’s never been so easy to recycle your food scraps into soil amendment while supporting the local food system at the same time! Join our movement!

Compostable Doggie Bags and Gloves! NOW FOR SALE

Whether you’re a dog owner or someone looking for a solution to avoid single-use plastic, we got you covered! Now on our compostable serviceware page, we are offering a variety of compostable dog doo bags, and food prep gloves that can also be worn for everyday use to protect against COVID19. Help O-Town Compost starve the landfills of plastic.

sold out

Food Prep Gloves (Medium) - 200

$20.00

• Restaurant quality

• Food grade certified

• 100% compostable

• Powder-free

• Multi-purpose (use them for protection against COVID19)

sold out

Eco-Pooch Compostable Dog Bags - Belly Band (x18)

$3.00

Leash Dispenser Rolls – Rolls of 18
– Dimensions: 8.25″ x 6″ x 5.5″ high

Please note that O-Town Compost does NOT accept pet waste in our composting program yet! See what we do accept on our FAQ page.

sold out

Eco-Pooch Compostable Dog Bags - x 120

$10.00

Standard Doggie Bags – Rolls of 120
– Dimensions: 8″ x 12″ x 6″ high

Please note that O-Town Compost does not accept pet waste in our composting program yet! See what we do accept on our FAQ page.

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's Facts and Figures

Don’t discount O-Town Black Gold!

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.

The Community Composting Movement Is Gaining Momentum

The founding of O-Town Compost was heavily influenced by other community composting operations around the country, like Bootstrap Compost in Boston, Let Us Compost in Athens, GA, and Rust Belt Riders in Cleveland. All are great examples of small local composters with a long list of residential subscribers who have been diverting massive quantities of food waste and making a positive contribution to their surrounding cities. The opportunity exists in every U.S. city, where successful organics programs are typically nowhere to be found, and the local governments are more focused on improving lagging recycling programs. Food waste management has been left to the private sector to deal with in large part.

Typically, the large waste haulers (a.k.a. Big Waste), like Waste Management and Republic Services, would get involved in the action, but since they have a constant inflow of trash into their landfills and incinerators, they’re okay with the status quo. Food waste is heavy after all, and the more tonnage coming into the landfill means more revenue. Although, it’s doubtful that these big companies will remain on the sidelines for long. In the meantime, small micro-haulers are carving out a niche in cities across the East Coast, South, and Mid-West.

Community Composters around the U.S.

The Institute of Local Self Reliance (ILSR) has been an instrumental part of the composting movement with their “Composting For Community” Podcast, and the organization of webinars and conferences to bring the nation’s decentralized composters together for sharing knowledge. One of ILSR’s feature writers, Neil Seldman, has been a force in his activism and criticism against Big Waste for years. Mr. Seldman’s article in December of 2018, “Monopoly and the U.S. Waste Knot” inspired O-Town Compost’s founder to look differently at the waste industry he was part of and at current U.S. recycling practices. Ultimately, recycling has suffered since the introduction of single stream, which was a recycling program talked up by large waste haulers looking to vertically integrate their collection systems. If you’re interested in making the greatest environmental impact, diverting food waste is the clear winner over standard recycling. Thus, O-Town Compost was born with food waste in mind, and the wind at our backs. Seemingly, there is unimaginable potential to repair Orlando’s eco-system and shift away from landfill waste management in Orange County, FL.