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 Tidewater Compost in VA!
Tidewater Compost is a composting service based in Virginia Beach, VA, Hampton Roads’ first residential and commercial organic waste diversion and compost company. Biobag Associate spoke to with Northfield Composting about the organization. Their interview is transcribed below.
What led you to start your composting operation?
We launched our initiative and collection routes in mid June of 2022. Based out of Virginia Beach, VA - we now service over 120 members located throughout parts of Hampton Roads (currently servicing members in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth). Also, please reference the "About" tab on our website, for some additional background into "How" and "Why" we started Tidewater Compost.
Did you know that nearly 50% of your garbage set out at the curb is compostable? We believe that food is a valuable resource that doesn’t belong in the trash. Once buried in our landfills, this organic waste produces potent greenhouse gases like methane that directly contribute to global warming and climate change.
One solution? Composting. We take your food scraps from table to farm and transform your waste into nutrient rich living soils. Our pickup service gives you the power to compost, even if you don’t have the time, space, or drive to manage your own composting system at home. Perfect for homeowners, townhome owners, apartment dwellers, business owners and more. When you sign up for our weekly pickup service, we give you all the supplies needed, you put your compostables in your designated bin(s), and we do the rest. The best part, you earn compost 2x a year to use or donate to someone in our local community.
Tidewater Compost strives to positively impact our local environments and improve our local food systems through healthy living soils. Our table to farm initiative helps divert organic waste from local landfills to close the food loop, while improving the soils in our communities.
Who do you serve and how can people get in touch with you if they want to start composting?
How our services work:
We provide weekly residential and commercial pickup services to the greater Hampton Roads area. Born and raised in Hampton Roads, our ultimate goal is to make composting accessible and affordable to everyone in our local communities. Currently, our residential weekly pickup service runs for $8.75 per week ($35 per month). Customers are invoiced monthly and can cancel at any time. Note - there is a one time $25 setup fee to initiate services with Tidewater Compost.
We make the composting process simple with 3 easy steps:
Getting Set up: When you subscribe, we drop off your composting starter package. You’ll receive your very own 5-gallon bin with airtight lid, 2-gallon kitchen caddy, compostable liners, and our Compostables List fridge magnet! Start filling your bucket with our approved list of compostables. Here’s our list! We have the ability to process much more than just your typical fruit and vegetable scraps that many attempt to compost at home. We process other items like: meat, bones, seafood, seafood shells, dairy, grains, baking ingredients, processed foods, soiled paper products and cardboard, compostable serviceware, and much, much more. Many of our subscribers discover they reduce their trash by as much as 50%!
Weekly Pickups: On pickup day, place your bin outside near the front entrance of your residence. Let us do the rest. We empty and clean your bin, and then replace your compostable liner. We handle the composting process free of pests and odors. Simple, Clean, and Easy! You’re ready to compost again!
Celebrate a healthier Planet Together: Just like that, your food wastes are diverted from our landfill and turned into nutrient rich living soils. You earn compost with each collection – redeemable 2x a year. Don’t need your compost? No problem! You can donate your share to one of our local community partners. We track your contributions – so you can see your positive environmental impact!
Have 2 or more neighbors interested in composting? Create a “HUB”. Refer at least two other neighbors to sign up and place your bins together on pickup day – we call this a “HUB” stop (3 or more subscribers). Receive our special “HUB” pricing $6.25/week ($25/month). Also, don’t forget about our referral incentive program. Refer your friends/neighbors and as a thank you, we offer a Give $10, Get $10 incentive. Both you and your referred subscriber will receive $10 off your next invoice.
If people are interested in signing up for our services, they can simply visit our website and fill out our submission/sign up form to get started.
How much organic material do you typically take in on a weekly basis?
We now collect ~ 1,000 lbs. of materials each week and have diverted nearly 25,000 lbs of materials since our launch date. We currently utilize a DEQ permitted facility to process our waste collections, however, we're in the early stages of working towards permitting our very own processing facility.
Feel free to add any additional information about your operation as you see fit.
We’ve added many additional features to our services to increase customer knowledge and convenience during the composting process. We also deploy weekly text and email reminders the evening before our scheduled pickup dates. This helps our customers never forget putting their bins out for collection.
To learn more, visit www.tidewatercompost.com.
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