Closing the Food System Loop Through Commercial Composting

by LeeAnna Tatum

We’re all familiar with the farm-to-table concept - eating foods that are fresh, local and seasonal with a clear connection between the land and the plate. But what about the other half of the equation?

Nature works in circles, cycles and systems; but human advancements and industry often disrupt these patterns. One such disruption is the removal of food waste from nature’s cycle of decay and renewal; this not only creates negative environmental issues by adding methane into the environment, but also deprives the soil of a valuable resource of nutrients, microbes and organic matter

To complete the circle - farm-to-table-to-farm - it’s important to keep food waste out of landfills and return it to the soil where it can continue the cycle of nourishment. Just as the soil feeds us, it’s important for us to feed the soil.

Composting is the process which closes the loop in the system.

Composting is a fairly simple process and something that all of us can do. However, a staggering percentage of waste going into America’s landfills is biodegradable food scraps. Food that ends up in landfills does not biodegrade as it would in a natural environment.

“Once in the landfill, organic matter may react with other materials and create toxic leachate. Food waste placed in an airtight landfill stops the earth’s natural cycle of decomposition. This cycle plays a crucial role in the health of our environment … More than 72 percent of all materials entering landfills can be diverted through composting. Composting provides a way in which solid wastes, water quality, and agricultural concerns can be joined.” Taken from a UGA extension publication on food waste and composting, for the full publication click here.

The publication goes on to say, “An increasing number of communities, businesses, institutions, and individuals are expected to turn to composting to divert materials from landfills and to lower waste management costs. Although waste stream managers view composting primarily as a means to divert materials from disposal facilities, the environmental benefits, including reduction in water pollution, and the economic benefits to farmers, gardeners, and landscapers can be substantial.”

Environmentally conscious couple Michael and Maria Wedum are on a mission to help the City of Savannah divert food scraps from the landfill and restore the depleted soils of the area’s local farms. A daunting mission, to be sure, but one that provides a practical solution to multiple problems all while bringing the community together in a united cause.

The couple founded COR Composting (COR stands for Code of Return) one year ago with a simple principle in mind - close the loop! Closing the loop means taking food and wood waste out of the landfills and creating a beautiful organic amendment with which to feed the soil. Their goal is to become the natural alternative to a landfill serving the Savannah community.

In its short lifetime, COR Composting has already helped local restaurants divert more than 145,000 pounds of food waste from the local landfill. Brighter Day and The Sentient Bean are two commercial clients. Co-owner of both businesses Kristin Russell is grateful for the opportunity to have an outlet for food scraps that they don’t have the space in town to compost themselves.

In the following statement for Southern Soil, Russell explains why participating in this composting program is important to her and her businesses.

"A lot of new thinking about climate change is emphasizing the importance of dirt and organic farming. It is becoming clearer to us that healthy soil and the microbes that live there sequester a LOT of carbon. So not only is composting essential to any effort to become more sustainable in the obvious way of diverting waste from landfills, it is also a really important step in returning nutrients to soil and helping regenerate soil.”

"We could not handle the volume of compost we generate by ourselves and it would not work to be doing that in the city anywhere so it’s great that Michael and Maria have taken on the business of composting. We’re gearing up to start inviting our customers to compost too and I can’t wait!"

"It’s very important to The Sentient Bean and Brighter Day in our ongoing effort to minimize waste that COR is around to make composting possible. Last year we diverted 36,130 lbs of organic waste from the landfill and into COR’s stream. I’m really hoping they continue to grow and can get a commercial recycling system for all the biodegradable togo products that we use. Now if we can just get recycling back on track!"

In addition to seeking out more commercial clients for food-scrap pickups (restaurants, grocery stores, schools, etc.), the Wedums are also thinking small when it comes to growing their business and providing a service to their community.

COR Composting now has a presence at Forsyth Farmers’ Market where they offer composting service for individuals and households.

“Every single person in the community can be involved in this and feel good about it,” Maria explained. “And we’re starting to get some inquiries from people who want to compost but they don’t know how or they don’t have the space. They are either interested in someone teaching them or to have somewhere they can drop it.”

“We started thinking of the small-scale, of the average resident and family household,” she continued. “Why should they have to pay a monthly service fee when they’re already paying for trash service to just divert a few kitchen scraps? But people want to know that they’re making a difference. Especially for the community, it’s a matter of pride to say everybody counts, everybody makes a difference. So when we set up this station at the market … it’s super simple. All you have to do is put your scraps in this bucket with a lid, keep it closed until you come to the farmer’s market, give it to us and we’ll give you a clean bin and you can go on your way.”

“The drop offs will be free. It’s basically a $10 buy in. Buy the bucket and the lid and you’ll get the list of what can go in there.”

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The couple hopes to see COR Composting grow into an industrial composting business capable of handling large volumes of food scraps and also producing an end-product compost at a large enough volume to help build the soils of local farms. But a lot of care is being taken to grow incrementally enabling the company to develop at a pace and scale that is manageable.

Currently leasing a small plot of land from Bethesda Academy, their goal is to eventually find property in or near Savannah’s city limits in order to be capable of handling large waste haulers.

“Our first tiered goal, as far as commercially, would be to have a volume of about 500 tons a month,” Maria explained. “Right now we’re working at about six to seven tons a month … what’s really holding us back is creating that commercial facility and finding the land. Once we’re able to be regulated in that way, we could easily work with a local waste hauler.”

“We’re coming to a point where we have to worry about climate change, we have to worry about where our trash is going,” Maria continued. “I think this is a solution. I think when it comes to the progression itself, the city is coming around to it.”

“We didn’t intend for this to become a big business when we started doing what we’re doing,” Michael explained. “... it has to be done and we know how to do it. And we actually care, we have the energy to do it because it’s something we want to do.”

Developing a commercial composting facility capable of diverting much of Savannah’s biodegradable food waste from the local landfills will require a community-wide effort. The leadership of the City of Savannah needs to see and understand the value of this type of alternative waste management, the businesses and restaurants that produce food waste will need to be willing to spend the extra little bit that it will cost them to divert their food waste, individuals will need to make the extra little bit of effort that it takes to separate food waste from the rest of the trash.

But the benefits would be monumental for the community and well-worth the efforts of doing something “new”.

The table below shows the number of pounds of food waste that have been diverted from landfills since each restaurant started with COR.

BUSINESS NAME - DATE JOINED - LBS. DIVERTED

Green Truck - 11/12/18 - 37400 lbs., Sentient Bean - 12/29/18 - 36500 lbs., La Scala - 1/28/19 - 2850 lbs., Henny Penny - 2/11/19 - 28050 lbs., Fox and Fig - 2/18/19 - 14000 lbs., Coffee Fox - 2/25/19 - 6065 lbs., Foxy Loxy - 8/26/19 - 2700 lbs., Hyatt Regency - 9/26/19 - 14630 lbs., Coffee Fox West - 12/2/19 - 180 lbs., Collins Quarter - 12/12/19 - 3575 lbs.

From that same UGA extension report on food waste and composting: “To date, 51 percent of Georgia’s landfills are in closure or will be closed within 5 years, and 62 percent will be closed in fewer than 10 years. On average, Georgia landfill tipping fees are between $30 and $40 per ton. As landfills fill up and close at an alarming rate, waste disposal and tipping fees to the businesses and institutions generating the waste will continue to climb.”

COR Composting is poised to provide an alternative to the landfill and help Savannah move toward becoming a more ecologically sound community.

“We’re just a small business, two people starting out doing something that we wanted to do,” Michael said, From that, we’ve progressed into something much larger than ourselves and we’ve seen that its something much larger than us. And as much as it’s hard to make a change or make a difference - we all want to save the planet, or at least not be the ones that destroyed it - that is as simple as separating your food waste … that in itself makes a huge difference.”

“Most of the inert things in the landfill aren’t going to cause any detrimental problems, but we shouldn’t be burying our food waste because it creates a much worse problem. And if we do compost,” he continued, “just something simple like taking it to the farmer’s market or … compost at your house if you have that desire. All of us doing this little piece will create more food, healthier soil, healthier air, healthier water and in the end healthier people.”

Michael went on to explain, “compost isn’t about one person, it’s not about people, it’s about the planet and our responsibility to be accountable for what we’re doing. If we want to eat food, we have to be able to grow food and to do that we have to be able to put our food back to where it’s supposed to go. Just like the forest doesn’t ship its leaves and branches to a landfill, it uses those to regrow itself continuously over and over, and that’s what we’re supposed to be doing but we just forgot. Because somebody decided to take care of our trash for us so we didn’t have to any more. But we’re getting to a point where we’re going to have to.”

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“The success of this requires people to be onboard and to change up the system. Be more innovative … just going back to the roots of how nature intended … It’s super simple and it’s possible. It’s possible to have solutions to all those problems, it just requires change. It’s all very possible and if we do it together, the transition should be smooth,” Maria concluded.