Justen came out of the military unemployed and without an idea what direction he wanted to go. Fast forward 10+ years to today, Veteran Compost has two compost sites in the DC/Baltimore area and is diverting food waste by the boat-load.
Waste Diversion Abound! O-Town's Special Recycling Service On The Scene
The new, one of a kind service has officially launched for our 500+ subscribers. Customers can log in to their customer portal, access the shop, and select from among 7 different hard-to-recycle items.
Batteries, light bulbs, paint, plastic film, textiles, small electronics, and wires & cords.
We’ve had this idea for awhile, but weren’t ready to execute on it until we were in a comfortable spot with our composting service. O-Town’s primary focus remains with the collection and composting of organic waste, but we’re always looking to add value for our dedicated subscribers.
What’s important to us is giving folks access to recycling programs that are convenient. That’s why people often refer to state’s like Colorado, Washington, and Oregon as being ahead of Florida in environmentalism. There are just more policies and programs in place, plus companies like Ridwell, are in place to shape the culture.
The Southeastern region of the United States has the highest waste per capita in the nation. We are slowing changing the throw-away culture into one that is conscious of what goes to the landfill. We’re so grateful for our community of waste warriors.
Episode 30. Joseph McMillan - CEO of Atlas Organics
Atlas Organics is a big fish when it comes to commercial composting and expanding food waste recycling infrastructure in the Southeast. Their CEO, Joe, joined Charlie on the podcast to discuss their plans for growth in Tampa and how they leveraged equity investors to take their game to the next level.
Spring Compost Giveback is Live!
If you are an O-Town subscriber, it’s time to claim your free share of compost in your customer portal. Subscribers will be able to order a share throughout March from the shop in your customer portal. See instructions below to order your share today. Happy planting y’all. 🌱🌻🌺
The top right corner of our website, login to your account.
Click the button above labeled “shop.”
Add the product “Compost Giveback Spring 2022” to your cart, and check out. The share of compost will be delivered on your next service date.
Episode 29. Lanette - Fertile Earth Worm Farm (Homestead, FL)
Lanette is a a special lady who understands the waste industry like she understands the regenerative agricultural movement, very well. In this episode, she shares how she’s able to process upwards of 25 tons per week of food waste, and her journey from the very beginning.
Episode 27. Neil Seldman - Institute of Local Self Reliance
Listen to this great episode with Neil Seldman, one of the most knowledgeable people on the history of environmentalism and waste in the United States. This article, Monopoly and the U.S. Waste Knot, influenced Charlie to change the direction in his career, and focus on community composting as a solution to breakup the centralization of waste management.
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 #25. Tim Bennett - Bennett Compost (Philly, PA)
Bennett Compost in Philadelphia, PA sets an example for the rest of us community composters who may have only started in the last few years. Tim Bennett and his team have grown to over 5,000 composters, and have partnered with the City to aggressively target and recycle food scraps. They also do a fair-share of their collections by bicycle!
Take a listen to this week’s episode as Charlie talks with one of the greats.
Episode #24. Brenda Platt - Institute of Local Self Reliance
Brenda Platt directs ILSR’s Composting for Community project, which is advancing locally based composting in order to create jobs, enhance soils, sequester carbon, reduce waste, and build more resilient and healthy communities. She has worked 33 years fighting trash burners and promoting waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting, particularly recycling-based jobs.
Happy Holidays from O-Town Compost - (Check out this musical parody)
O-Town Compost driver, Christy Folk, is also talented at making music videos!
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 #22. Mother Compost - Gwen Nolan
Gwen and her team of food waste slaying bad asses, are the community composter’s of Philly’s mainline. Find out what it’s like to start a compost business with kids and little sleep. Hope you enjoy this week’s episode!
Make Your Holidays Green! - O-Town Compost Gift Cards
The holidays don’t have to be a time for over-consumption putting more strain on mother earth.
Help O-Town Compost spread the community composting movement, and get your special someone a gift card for our convenient composting service. It’s the gift that the environment can approve of, and keeps on giving, as food scraps turn into rich soil.
Episode 21. Cowboy Compost - Fort Worth, TX
A key partnership with the City of Fort Worth has put Cowboy Compost in a position where they are diverting a significant amount of food waste from the landfill. Listen as co-founder, Miguel, talks about his philosophy on running a community composting business.
Episode #20. Dirt Hugger Compost (Dallesport, WA)
Pierce and his co-founder started Dirt Hugger not having experience driving a front-end loader, or having an idea which avenue of composting they wanted to focus. Most of us community composters start with a buck-shot of ideas, and it’s important for us to narrow it down.
Dirt Hugger Compost is turning thousands of tons of organic waste from Oregon and Washington into a beautifully rich compost, and distributing it to gardeners in the Columbia River Gorge.
Episode #19. Jack Tirakyan - The Compost SuperPAC
The Next Three Elections - (‘22, ‘24, ‘26) Will Define the Next Three Decades of Climate Solutions. We’re excited to be partnering with The Compost SuperPAC , because we believe that composters’ voices need to be heard in American politics.
Compost Now Available for O-Town Subscribers
In addition to the free compost giveback for O-Town Compost subscribers, finished compost is now available for purchase!
To order 50lbs of premium O-Town Black Gold, login to your customer portal and order the product titled “O-Town Black Gold Compost,” for $15. We will deliver it on a normally scheduled pickup day, and it comes in a compostable Kraft paper bag. Please tear up before placing in your bucket.
Starting this Saturday we will have our compost for sale at the Packing District Farmer’s Market on the corner of Orange Blossom Trail and Princeton St. It’s the inaugural farmers market, and will feature The Farmacy selling local and organic meat, dairy, and produce from Central Florida farmers.
Of course, subscribers can still order their Fall share of compost for free anytime before October 8th! Same instructions, go to the shop in your customer portal and select the item titled “Fall 2021 Compost Giveback” for $0.
Directions to The Packing District Farmer’s Market:
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.
It's Time For the Fall Compost Giveback! 🌱🌶🥕🥑
We’re doing the giveback a little differently this season.
O-Town Compost subscribers now have the option to go to the shop in their customer profile, and order their 20lbs share of O-Town Black Gold finished compost! Once ordered, you will be receiving it on the next regularly scheduled pickup date. Please don’t forget to put out the empty bucket after you’ve used your compost!
Subscribers have until 10/15 to order their free share of compost for the Fall until our next giveback in March 2022.
Follow the instructions below to order your share of free compost. Happy planting 😉
