waste reduction

2020: A Year To Remember

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Goals Achieved

In spite of a global pandemic, O-Town Compost managed to recycle over 50,000 pounds of food scraps in its inaugural year. Our team grew from one to four members comprised of Orlando’s most passionate and dedicated individuals. The type of people who don’t think twice before reaching into a bucket full of decayed food waste to pull out a rubber band or a bread tie.

Most importantly, the Orlando community has shown us that they support our mission whole-heartedly. Over 140 residents and businesses have chosen to align themselves with our values to keep food scraps out of the landfill. Considering that it was our goal to reach 100 subscribers in our first year, we blew it out of the water!

Hardships

Although, 2020 wasn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. Unfortunately, the pandemic weakened the economy enough that a dozen or so subscribers had to cancel service. The sad truth in our current economic system is that recycling food waste is a luxury not a norm. This is why we are pushing local municipalities and government officials at the City of Orlando, Winter Park, and Orange County, to begin to make plans for food waste recycling infrastructure and policies mandating large generators of commercial food waste to divert organics from the waste stream.

Also, let’s not pretend that composting isn’t laborious. We have to thank all the OTC staff and volunteers who put their sweat into the semi-manual process of screening finished compost and emptying ASP bins with pitchforks. I know my back needs a vacation.

September Composting Site Tour

It gives us immense joy to show people how their banana peels, paper towels, and celery stocks become black gold compost. We return to the story time and time again of how increased soil health can fuel a local food abundance and create a resilient community.

In the Fall, we gave tours of our composting site that doubled as a Permaculture tour. It was demonstrated how humans can thrive in a biodiverse system and passively grow their own food.

At the composting site there’s a wide variety of edible and medicinal plants growing, such as moringa, papaya, Tandora cucumber, katuk, Okinawa spinach, and Barbados cherry. A dozen or so subscribers attended and brought their friends and family members to learn about the composting process. Some went home with plant cuttings that they could propagate in their own gardens. Soil is truly life, and our health starts with the health of our soil at the base of the food chain.

Ambitions for 2021

We believe that we’re on the precipice of something big here for 2021. If we continue to meet our goals, by the end of 2021, we will be capturing and recycling 5 tons of food scraps every week. Increasing our capacity by 5x. This, of course, will be difficult to achieve until we land a larger composting site, and the right equipment, but a round of investment is likely in store for 2021, so we can scale.

Right now we’re enjoying the journey while O-Town Compost is becoming a household name in Central Florida. Nonetheless, our eye if fixed on the prize, providing the capacity to recycle all of the organic waste out there in Orange County, and to sustain a zero waste society.

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.

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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. 

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O-Town Compost Extends Its Reach Into College Park! (32804)!!!

“Let the food waste come.” - Charlie Pioli, Founder of O-Town Compost (with a battle-worn yet determined look on his face)

We’re excited to welcome the residents of zip code 32804 to our expanded service area! The College Park area is an example of how a number of people in the community came together to request food waste collection service, and O-Town Compost listened. It’s much more efficient, environmentally and economically, for O-Town Compost to run a route in an area with a greater client population.

We are hoping to be able to stretch farther in the next year, as we gain traction around Orlando. I have a feeling West Orlando (Winter Gardens, Windermere, Ocoee, etc) will be smelling O-Town Black Gold sometime during 2020.

Compost On Orlando!

College Park joins the community composting movement.

College Park joins the community composting movement.

Customer Feature - Kristi from the Hourglass District

Thank you for opening service in my zip code (The Hourglass District), and opening up to accepting all foods including meat and dairy products! I love the service so far, and it makes me feel so much better to make a positive change!