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Compost Cab!

Posted by elisa_Z5 none (My Page) on
Sun, Dec 2, 12 at 18:46

This guy ends up with more compost than he can distribute, and is making a living at it. Pretty cool!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/i-turn-garbage-into-food/ 2012/11/26/3b531338-3288-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_story.html

Here is a link that might be useful: compost cab


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Compost Cab!

It sounds like he simply picks up compostable waste from residences and some businesses and delivers it to farms or composting facilities. He's basically running a garbage company. It doesn't say that he composts the material himself.

He might have trouble doing that around here because our local refuse companies do the same thing.

I think there's a business niche for what I would call "clean composters", composters who remove plastic, glass, and other garbage from the compostables before it enters the composting process. Municipal compost, the stuff made by big waste haulers, is grossly contaminated with junk that will never decompose in a million years, and worse, they've shredded it into tiny particles during the composting process.


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RE: Compost Cab!

  • Posted by pt03 2b Southern Manitob (My Page) on
    Sun, Dec 2, 12 at 23:25

$32/month??? Who the heck would pay that?? The town that I get my yard trimmings from charges $150/year/residence for waste management and that includes recycling and yard trimmings pick-up.

Lloyd


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RE: Compost Cab!

  • Posted by lonmower zone8 Western Oregon (My Page) on
    Sun, Dec 2, 12 at 23:54

I agree with Lloyd...something is a little "stinky" with compost cab and it ain't what's in the containers.


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RE: Compost Cab!

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I thought the telling part was the one customer saying he wouldn't do it if it wasn't so easy. People by and large need it to be as easy as dumping it for curbside pick up or flushing down the toilet. Everybody is pretty cool as long as someone else had to deal with their, uh, their, their, um, stuff. Yeah. Stuff.

There are a couple of relevant articles in the LA Times but the La Times has closed up the sphincter on it's website [I'm a little ticked off at the la la times at the moment]. One is about how LA is exporting its sludge and compostables to neighboring counties and the neighbors ain't liking it much. Another article talks about how Uber, an iPhone app for contacting rides for hire in metropolitan areas, is getting flack from cab companies.

This guy and his compost cab could be just The Man in the White Suit.
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RE: Compost Cab!

Lloyd, around here it's about $50/month, which includes 1 can each of regular garbage, recyclables, and mixed yard waste/kitchen waste per week.


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RE: Compost Cab!

  • Posted by pt03 2b Southern Manitob (My Page) on
    Mon, Dec 3, 12 at 0:41

Wow! I wonder why the cost is so much higher? I'm guessing tipping fees?

In any event, why would anyone pay an additional $32 for no real increase in service or no real reduction in costs. I wouldn't.

Lloyd


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RE: Compost Cab!

It might seem expensive, but businesses are all over this. Note the one customer mentioned who's a caterer. A lot of businesses want to be more green, even large corporations who have a sustainability policy but need help implementing it.

I know a little about this because I have a relative involved in such a business. It was spun off by a restaurant group (now 6 independent restaurants) that had no way to move its food waste other than the dumpster.

Food waste is the next biggest portion of the solid waste stream after you get the 'traditional' recyclables out. It's the wave of the future.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eartha Limited


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