Each month, we will highlight community heroes that are making a difference in their communities and working to make their local environments cleaner and healthier.
This month, we are taking a look at Blue Earth Compost in CT!
Blue Earth Compost is a composting service based in Windsor, CT that collects food scraps from homes, businesses, and events. Biobag Associate spoke to Alex Williams, owner, and director of operations at Blue Earth Compost & Sam who helps with daily operations at Blue Earth Compost about the organization. Their interview is transcribed below.
What led you to start your composting operation?
Alex: So, Blue Earth was started in the fall of 2013 by a woman named Suzanna castle. I returned from college around that time and began interning with her. about six months after she started the business in the spring of 2014. She had to relocate and yeah, just sort of fell in my lap. Me & my parents bought the business in April of 2014 and sort of the rest is history, I became associated with composting through some internships and college. That's where I sort of caught the bug was doing some nonprofit work down in Queens. Composting and yeah, just kind of never look back from there.
Who do you serve and how can people get in touch with you if they want to start composting?
Alex: Blue Earth is a residential commercial and event food scrap collection service. So we yeah, our service really runs the gamut, we can collect commercially from anyone from a Corner Cafe, all the way to grocery store Chains, multinational corporate headquarters. Yeah, we're able to service the smallest to the biggest kinds of customers commercially residentially. Again, we service households apartment buildings again. It really we cover the whole Spectrum, the best way to get in touch with us for sure. Residentially is through our website, we have a convenient sign up form right there that you can input all your information and we'll get you going. Commercially, give us a call or shoot us an email. We're always available to set up a meeting and get you guys going.
Sam: I help with the daily operations and I make sure that the business is always moving in the right direction and taking forward Let's see. Blue Earth, compost serves homeowners and businesses in the Greater Hartford region and throughout most of Connecticut, as well as parts of Southern Massachusetts. We work with people who either can't compost or aren't able to, because they don't have the space or the time to do. So, especially for people in apartment buildings and places like that, as well as restaurants, and hospitals, and universities that don't have the resources or the infrastructure to do so at themselves, but they still want to do the right thing and make sure that the food scraps that they're creating are going to compost rather than going into the landfills and incinerators.
How much organic material do you typically take in on a weekly basis?
Alex: Sam, honestly probably knew that better than me. So, like 15 to 20 tons. Yeah, I'd say, yeah, we probably taken around 20 tons on a weekly basis right now. Covid, definitely lowered our volumes especially commercially. But yeah, when we're running full swing, once the pandemics over, I'd say that we would probably be more of an like the 30-ton a week range. Okay.
Sam: We compost anywhere between 25 and about 50 tons per week. Currently. And we look to expand that. That's about right? Yeah. yeah, that's crazy to think about
Feel free to add any additional information about your operation as you see fit.
Alex: We know the governor of Connecticut, quite well. Ned Lamont has been to our space a couple times. We unveiled our food scrap collection dump truck. The first of its kind in the state right outside of the state capitol and Hartford. So yeah, we've got a good relationship with the with our elected officials here in the state.
Sam: We're always so excited to work with other organizations and manufacturers of compost related products to help us to advance our mission and help expand composting and Biobag has been such a big player in our business ever since the beginning, the compostable bags that they create help to make our service for our residential customers, nice and easy, and clean. And without those products, it would be very difficult to make more people able to do this.
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