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| Hello,
If I'm producing moderately large amounts of compost a week, is it possible that I could sell it? I'd prefer not to be the retailer, but rather have a company I sell it to on a regular basis. Do any of you know of any such company? If not, how would you recommend selling it? In the worst case, how would you recommend getting rid of it? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| First thing to check is with your local Dept. of Agriculture for regulations.You could be held liable for any contamination. If it's a pure organic; check with local organic gardening groups. You might be able to work a deal with local (large) nurseries. I doubt your moderately large guessitimate would be of any interest to large retailers. A local company here produces about 1000 yards per week and only sells locally. |
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- Posted by TheMasterGardener1 none (My Page) on Sat, May 14, 11 at 0:01
| The cost to move it so you would have to stay local. If it is quality compost like kitchen waste and vegan specialty is what stands out. Otherwise the big guys have it on lock. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sat, May 14, 11 at 1:00
| Search the Internet for captaincompostal. He started a compost business just like what you are suggesting. I'm not sure where he is posting. He used to be the moderator on the Organic Gardening forum but I rarely see him post anything anymore. I know he is moderating regularly on a paid-members-only forum, but you should be able to find him elsewhere. |
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- Posted by Newbntrepreneur (My Page) on Sat, May 14, 11 at 1:23
| they would be food scraps.... without pesticides. They would be composted in earth tubs and mixed with higher carbon materials that we'd get for free (woodchips, etc). |
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| They did it...... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-13345935 There's video at the link but not sure if you can access it from US. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Selling compost
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| Check with one of your locally owned nursery/garden centers to see if they might be interested in what you have. |
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- Posted by Newbntrepreneur (My Page) on Sat, May 14, 11 at 17:49
| I contacted the local nursery and they said i would need a license? Is one required to sell compost in california? |
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| Here's some permitting and contact info. |
Here is a link that might be useful: State composting requirements
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| Al now has his own cubit. Garden web won't let me link to their competition, but you can email me if you 're interested and I'll send you the link. Karen |
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| Sell it for fun or a profit? I'm not sure what an earthtub is but unless you have a pay loader and a few acres to work on and some serious capitol to meet regulations It's a lot more fun to give it away to Friends and family gardening clubs or your favorite charity The reason companies are able to profit is they get paid tipping fees for the material and govt subsidies There is a ton more research you can do by simply goggling it for a while |
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- Posted by californian 10 (My Page) on Sat, May 14, 11 at 22:43
| I was talking to a lady who works for a waste management company and she said a lot of research is going on regarding compost. She said the company just bought a giant machine, I guess sort of like a compost tumbler but twice the size of a full size van. It had all sorts of plumbing attached to it and blew air into it and she said some liquid came out a pipe which they let some of the employees who were gardeners take home and they said the results using it were fantastic. She said the goal is to eventually turn all food waste into compost, and none would ever again go into a landfill. The food is first heated to kill any pathogens, and then fed into the composting machine. She said one problem is that they had to have a continuous supply of food because if they ran out for even a day the special microbes they use would die, and it was very expensive to buy a new batch. I guess sort of like the mountain men always keeping some sourdough alive to make the next batch of bread. She said they are selling the compost to Disneyland. |
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| There are no "special" microbes needed to digest food waste, they are already present on the food. People that keep a sourdough going need to be careful because that sourdough starter has yeast in it which is much different then what digests food waste to make compost. If the nursery would not consider purchasing your compsot unless you had a license then selling any to anyone else without that license could get you into a heap of trouble. |
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- Posted by californian 10 (My Page) on Sun, May 15, 11 at 18:59
| You weren't paying attention, Kismmsr. They heat the food to kill anything alive in it first, including pathogens. BTW, they heat it with methane gas generated by the digesting compost, and also use the methane gas generated to run an electric generator. This is a high tech continuous feed operation that produces compost in a fraction of the time a home composter would take, because all environmental conditions are precisely controlled, plus they use the special fast acting microbes. BTW, do you still think Roly Polys don't eat seedlings? |
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| Yeah kismmsr..lol! Not just seedlings.
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- Posted by nygardener z6 New York (My Page) on Sun, May 15, 11 at 23:54
| Call your county agricultural extension. They'll be able to tell you the requirements, which may have to do with sourcing ingredients, minimum temperatures, testing, etc. Here in New York there's a state department called Agriculture & Markets that enforces regulations for agricultural products. Your best bet might be to find out the rules, make some distinctive packaging, and sell through local nurseries. |
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| There are sometimes lawn care companies looking for good quality compost for lawn topdressing. That may be a way to go. Heck why not start your own topdressing service? Great summer job for teenagers. Lloyd |
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| .. Special microbes? Why not just get pigs? What ever happened to that guy on Dirty Jobs in Vegas who took all the leftovers from all those Vegas buffets and just boiled 'em up and fed it to the pigs? Seems to me selling compost is a question of scale. At some point when you scale up the waste stream to the product you can make it cheap enough to sell at a profit. I suppose you can get your special microbes and sprayers of air and water and stuff but you still gotta find a continuous stream of feed stock cheap enough and then unload the continuos stream of product - safely. Sprayers, space and equipment to move things about all cost money. What's your business plan say? |
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- Posted by Newbntrepreneur (My Page) on Tue, May 17, 11 at 19:32
| My business plan would be this: instead of a school (or any facility that puts out a large amount of food waste) giving money to WM to take away their food, I go in and install either a giant worm bin (worm castings are worth more) or a compost bin, where they can generate compost on-site. They pay this installation off via payments that would be less than what they pay the waste company to take away their food waste. I'd get a landscaping company of some sort to drop of woodchips/sawdust for carbon to add into the mix. I'd eventually want to pick up their waste for a very small price/for free and sell the compost they generate. The main challenge in this (at least I think) is selling the compost, especially because I have no kind of background in this domain. what would you recommend/improve on that? |
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| .. I'm just a backyard yahoo. Composting at a commercial scale is beyond anything I want to advise. I like the worm bin idea. I just don't know jack about worm composting. One link that might be helpful: Another link for your homework (more than I want to know): Some one else will have to help you. I just see the problems but not necessarily the opportunities and I believe there are opportunities if only I could see them. to sense |
Here is a link that might be useful: Biocycle Magazine
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| Newbntrepreneur, your name is getting ironic! Food waste is only a small fraction of the waste coming from a school or similar facility. Your business plan would have to include management of garbage, otherwise the school would be paying you for the composting service AND Waste Management to pick up non-compostables. Think plastic. |
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- Posted by Newbntrepreneur (My Page) on Sat, May 21, 11 at 14:50
| what If the facility were to implement sorting? WM would take away the recycling, the refuse, and I would take away the food waste? |
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| Some thoughts: A) Compliance with 'separation at source' is poor at best. Getting a commitment to provide only the feedstocks you desire will be extremely difficult. Be prepared to do a lot of sorting. B) Woodchips/sawdust/paper are not the best, nutrient wise, as a C material. If one is just trying to get rid of waste materials by composting, fine, but if one is trying to make a higher end marketable product, one would be better off using higher grade feedstocks as the main source. Not saying some low end products, but don't make it the major source. C) Take the time to make the best compost you can, don't cut corners. People who know compost can tell the difference between a quality product and crap that is just being rammed through a system. Don't sell an immature product unless that is exactly what they want for some reason. D) Know your product. How old, what feedstocks, what temperature achieved, number of times turned. Not saying you need a pedigree or long form birth certificate, but be able to explain and show your process. E) Invite customers to your composting site. Being able to see what is done and how you do it shows you have nothing to hide. Honesty and integrity count for a lot. Similar to this, don't try to oversell your product. A lot of people show up looking for waayyy more compost than they need and it would be easy to sell them what they ask for. F) Start small, getting in over your head right off the get go will be very discouraging. G) And lastly, make sure this is something you really want to do. It sounds easy enough on paper but unless one is a certifiable Good luck Lloyd |
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