We could all be connected ... by compost
Kris Steele and his friends want to be like the milkmen of the ‘50s. Only, with compost.
Steele described the ‘50s as a time when people were proud of their image. Today, he wonders, “Where is that?”
In the age of high consumerism and waste production, Steele, 30, and his partners – David Valder and Marcus Carson – reinvigorated that sense of pride two months ago with the formal launch of a business with a cause they believe in: Crown Town Compost (CTC).
Outside of their full-time jobs, they collect waste buckets from clients by either biking around their Wilmore neighborhood with trailers or, more noticeably, driving around South End in a classic turquoise pickup, a 1963 Ford they found on a North Carolina farm.
The truck is the very reflection of their goal to reduce and reuse.
By collecting waste from residents in Wilmore and from small businesses nearby who sign up for the service, they aim to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and to reuse the resources in that waste mix.
It all started out as “an adventure to help a friend get a job,” Steele said. He had also read an article that his wife had shared about Mecklenburg County’s waste-reduction goals.
He said he realized “that 30 percent of all of our trash that goes to a landfill is made up of food waste … We could turn this into a resource again.”
Composting is the fairly simple way to go.
So the group ran (or biked or drove) with the idea. Steele and Valder pitched the concept during a Queen City Forward Innovation Challenge in 2014.
Their pitch stated: “In the end, it is our ultimate goal to re-engage our communities by recycling something that we once considered waste.”
Though the business is now learning to navigate the intricate waste-handling guidelines set by the state, county and city, it has established one approved drop site in South End, acting as the middle man between local businesses and Earth Farms Organics waste haulers.
Earth Farms Organics functions as CTC’s commercial composting partner, managing the industrial facility at which all of CTC’s commercial customers’ food waste is composted. The commercial customers they currently collect from are Not Just Coffee in South End, Friendship Trays, 300 East and Pure Pizza.
While Not Just Coffee tosses in a blend of coffee grinds and filters, other waste that is collectable by the group is edible, non-meat waste, which includes napkins, flowers and eggshells.
Meanwhile, some of CTC’s residential customers’ food waste will be composted at partner community gardens – Dilworth Community Garden is one potential partner.
Steele clarified why handling waste in this way matters: “Maybe if it wasn’t out of sight people would care about it more.”
At this time, CTC is making compost from the commercial food waste they collect available for purchase, but is still exploring options for how to return compost to residential customers.
The next stage
The group is working with the city and county to expand to Plaza Midwood and NoDA with drop sites – they have already begun to reach out to local businesses about picking up waste for composting.
Though this is a for-profit operation, Steele said, “This isn’t about us. This is about Charlotte-Mecklenburg. We need the communities involved.”
Be on the lookout for community compost days
Steele is gearing up to try out a community compost day at Atherton Market, during which anyone can bring by compost buckets. All they would have to do is make sure they fit the requirements.
One saying keeps ringing true in Steele’s mind. It keeps his work moving forward: “You’re an activist or you’re not.”
Katie Toussaint feels guilty about the excessive amount of pumpkin spice coffee grounds she dumps into the trash every day. When she’s not crossing her fingers for the Atherton community compost day to come to fruition, she edits for CharlotteFive and community news at the Charlotte Observer. Follow her on Twitter @katietoussaint.
This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "We could all be connected ... by compost."