Are you interested in composting your food scraps but don’t have the time, the expertise, or the space? You’re in luck. CompostNow will do it for you. And give you the fruits of your composting effort.
We caught up with Matt Rostetter, a graphic designer in the Raleigh area since 2006. He recently quit his job at Progress Energy to dedicate his time to making CompostNow a full-time gig.
Here’s the deal. You get a small compost bucket, CompostNow picks it up every week, and you get the dirt (if you want it). But there’s a lot more to it than that. Hear why Matt is energetic about saving the environment, reducing space in our landfills, and how you can start using CompostNow in your home, apartment, or townhome.
Break it down for us, what is CompostNow all about?
Simply put, CompostNow is home-composting, with out composting at home. Now, every household can recycle their food waste and organics. CompostNow members are provided with small containers that can be kept in the home and filled with compostables throughout the week. The container is picked up once a week and replaced with a clean one. The waste is recycled at a large composting facility that can breakdown all organics, even the stuff you can’t break down in your backyard compost pile, like corn plastics.
Members also receive the fruits of their non-labor. Finished nutrient-rich soil is delivered if and when the members desire based on the amount of waste that has been collected from their household.
Diverting our food waste from the landfill and recycling it is a very important step toward sustainability.
What motivated you to start CompostNow?
CompostNow is an idea that came to me as a result of my girlfriend and I constantly noticing that people seemed to want to compost but either didn’t know how or didn’t have the means. Even my own situation; I wanted to compost but live in a town home and so have nowhere to start a pile.
It was clear as day. There had to be others out there like me. But I looked and there wasn’t anyone doing anything about it. I had always been someone who bitched about the environment, but this was my chance to actually do something meaningful.
My goal is to make it as easy as possible for EVERY household to be a household that recycles it’s food waste. In the beginning, it was a slow process getting families to separate their recyclables from regular garbage. But nowadays, almost all households do so. I see a day in the near future where separating and recycling food waste and organic materials is just as commonplace. We don’t really have a choice.
What are the benefits to someone using the CompostNow service?
First of all the biggest benefit is to our planet. Diverting these materials takes up less room in the landfill and cuts down on the energy used to get it there.
CompoostNow members benefit by feeling good knowing they’re doing their part.
Finally, members’ gardens benefit. The finished product can be delivered back to members to be used on their gardens or for their houseplants… Free of charge.
You’ve got a Rippple campaign going until November 14th, tell us more.
It’s a 60 day campaign to raise financial support to give the company the initial boost it needs to be able to take on a much larger amount of customers. We need supplies. One of next goals is getting a diesel pick-up vehicle so we can run it on biodiesel and cut down even further on the impact to the environment. We trying to get everyone to watch the video on rippple.com, make a contribution or sign up, and tell their friends.
Raleigh seems to have a great entrepreneurial spirit like yours. Why do you think that is?
There seems to be a very positive outlook for the direction Raleigh is headed in. Everyone seems to agree that Raleigh is growing in a very healthy way. Raleigh is also a very progressive city for the South. Sustainability seems to be near the top of the list of importance for a lot of new business owners and homeowners.
CompostNow Campaign from andrewvanover on Vimeo.