Startup turns urban food waste into compost for local farms

Urban farms don’t have enough compost

Americans generate 250 million tons of garbage every year, and roughly one third of that could be converted into compost. Instead, they go to the landfill, where they generate harmful methane gas. In addition, as urban farms increase in popularity, the demand for compost and expensive soil amendments has likewise increased. Many urban residents would prefer composting their food waste instead of throwing it in the garbage, but scraps must be driven to a drop-off location, and the refuse can attract rodents.

Solution: Collect food waste from local residents

For $32 per month, residents of Washington DC receive a rodent-proof container to store their discarded produce, coffee grounds, and grass clippings. “If it grows, it goes” says Matt Browsosky, Compost Cab founder. Once a week, a driver picks up the container and replaces it with a fresh one, where it is turned into compost and sold to nearby farms. “What Washington needed most wasn’t another urban farm. It was compost.” From an initial base of 350 customers, Borowski has now expanded into a handful of neighboring cities.

Limitations: Borowsky acknowledges that this is only a stop-gap measure to raise awareness of the need for a larger, city-run effort to collect food waste. For example, San Francisco collects an estimated 600 tons of compostable material every day.

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Startup turns food waste into commercial soil supplement

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• Visit Compost Cab and see if they have a program in your city

Read More

• Compost Cab Website
• Washington Post | “I turn garbage into food“