We started a backyard composting service in Essex County, New Jersey in January 2017 to help residents divert their organic waste from landfills by turning it into compost. We offer two services - a do-it-yourself composting kit and a full-service weekly pickup and composting of food scraps in customers' backyards. Processing food scraps from just 63 customers has the potential to divert 40,000-60,000 pounds of organic waste annually and save municipalities disposal costs.

1. We are a backyard composting service helping people
redirect their organic waste by turning it into compost. We
also apply the finished compost to our customer's properties
as an additional service. We started in January 2017 in Essex
County, N.J. (approximately 20 miles from N.Y.C.)

2. OUR STORY
The Dream: We began our business by trying to establish a local, small-scale food
scraps pickup service. Our plan was to process the material on our own property!
The Reality: We were quickly faced with the cost of licensing and permitting, as well
as regulations preventing the moving of organics across property lines. We also would
have had to purchase land which was economically unfeasible.
Reinventing The Dream: We modified our plan in order to accommodate NJ food
waste regulations by setting up a backyard composting service. We have two services:
DIY Composting and Full Service Composting. Our Full Service customers get ALL
their finished material--as much as 600-700 lbs per year of compost. For an
additional fee, we apply the compost to their lawns and landscaping. If they don't
need all their compost, they can donate it to one of our urban farm partners who grow
food in various communities in Newark, NJ.

3. THIS IS HOW WE DO IT:
• We've set up over 50 DIY Customers with Backyard Composting
Startup Kits--Tumbler, assembly, 5 gallon bucket, counter-top
container, compost orientation, and delivery.
• We have 13 customers who do our weekly
Full Service. This operates similar to a pickup
service, but all food scraps are processed
on-site in the customer's backyard using a
tumbler they purchase through us.

4. POTENTIAL FOR NEIGHBORHOOD-
SCALE COMPOSTING
• If composting ALL of their food scraps, this small
sampling of 63 backyard composters translates into
potentially 40,000-60,000 lbs of food scraps
processed annually (not including garden waste).
• There is potential for large quantities of organics to be recycled; also for
municipalities to save money; and, for community-scale efforts to supply the
necessary steps in accessing, processing, and retailing the organics through
each step of the composting process.
• Consider that ESSEX COUNTY has approximately
800,000 residents, 120,000 single family homes,
and that current tipping fees to landfills are $90 p/
ton. Factoring single family homes with an average
of 3 people per unit (at 4 pounds of food waste per
person, per week) averages a savings of over
$3,000,000 for Essex County.