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 Ozark Compost in AR!
Ozark Compost is a composting service based in Fayetteville, AR with the mission to make composting mainstream by providing an approachable and fun residential compost pick-up service. Biobag Associate spoke to with Northfield Composting about the organization. Their interview is transcribed below.
What led you to start your composting operation?
I actually didn't know anything about composting a few years ago, but wanted to be more sustainable in our household. I read a book on how to be more sustainable and one of the number one items was composting. We were living in Colorado at the time and signed up for a compost collection service called Compost Colorado. It was life changing for us and we'd never throw food waste away again. Two years later we moved to Northwest Arkansas and there was no compost collection and we decided to start our own, which created Ozark Compost & Swap.
Who do you serve and how can people get in touch with you if they want to start composting?
We serve the Northwest Arkansas area, which includes single-family, apartments, and businesses. You can find us on Instagram or Facebook @ozarkcompost or visit our website www.ozarkcompost.com.Our service provides the Northwest Arkansas community the opportunity to create positive environmental impacts and preserve the legendary natural beauty of the state. Along with residential compost pick-up, we focus on reducing household waste items by partnering with sustainable businesses to provide reusable products through our swap program. By targeting common items used in everyday life, we can make strides to drastically divert waste from the landfills and reduce our overall footprint.
Service areas can be found on our website.
How much organic material do you typically take in on a weekly basis?
We pickup between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds a week.
Feel free to add any additional information about your operation as you see fit.
With our compost pickup we offer coffee refills for our composters using a local roaster here in Arkansas. We use refillable coffee canisters from Airscape, which is a fun add-on to your compost collection, all at your doorstep.
Why Compost?
1. Reduce Landfill Waste. Composting reduces waste, making us less dependent on and helping slow the growth of landfills. Food accounts for 24% of our landfill waste.
2. Decrease Greenhouse Gases. Food waste does not properly decompose in a landfill when it's surrounded by plastics, styrofoam and other trash. Food waste in the landfill will produce methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
3. Improve Soil Health. By composting, your are allowing the natural process of the decomposition of organic matter. This produces highly nutrient rich soil utilized by farmers and gardeners who grow our food.
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