Downtown residents should take note of a new startup that’s operating in the triangle and customers are already participating here in downtown Raleigh. As you are probably aware, the city and county take care of our trash and recyclables but currently do very little, if anything, in collecting our compostable materials. All of that organic matter can be put to use and after talking it over with Matt Rostetter, mastermind behind the Raleigh startup Compost Now, there is a big benefit to our neighborhood if all that organic trash was collected.
Compost Now is currently serving customers around Raleigh but Matt has a vision for bringing the service to a new level. To acheive his goals, new customers can join on the company’s Ripple campaign site, where monetary pledges help Compost Now reach their goals and give you a discount on the service for helping back it. The link to the Ripple campaign is:
Compost Now Fundraiser via Ripple.com
The service is simple. For a monthly fee, residents would receive a bin to place all their compostable trash in and it is collected every week, replaced by a fresh bin. The advantage to this service compared to similar ones in other cities is that Compost Now will give you fresh soil in return.
Matt estimates that for every two pounds of materials collected, residents would be entitled to one pound of soil. You can request soil at any time and have it delivered anywhere. So even if you won’t use it at home, you can send your soil to a local urban farm. Downtown residents should note the upcoming Raleigh City Farm and the many Community Supported Agriculture services could be potential recipients of your soil.
In the near future, Matt envisions a website showing users statistics including how much weight in trash has been kept out of landfills, how much soil you are entitled to and other data to really bring people into using the service. Travelers shouldn’t worry as the service can be put on hold when out of town. You won’t be charged for not using the service for those weeks and you can schedule when bins should start showing up again at your door.
Compost Now is a resident based composting service which keeps waste out of landfills and can really supply our neighborhood community gardens with the soil they need. Check out the campaign for this growing Raleigh startup.