Giving Compass' Take:

• Levi Gardner at Food Tank highlights some important organizations across North America that are offering fee-based service for weekly compost pickup, and in effect emptying landfills because they often provide the finished product back to local farms and gardens.

• Despite an enormous growth in composting, estimates are that only 5% of food waste nationwide is composted and the remainder makes up an enormous 22 percent of all landfill waste. How can donors drive support into the proper and sustainable disposal of food waste?

• Here's an article on food waste innovations that show big impact from small changes such as composting. 

In late 2018, founders of Austin-based Compost Pedallers Dustin Fedako and Eric Goff messaged all their subscribers and community; they were “hanging up their helmets for good.” After seven years, 540,000 kilograms (1.2 million pounds) of diverted waste, and nearly 6.5 million expended calories, the founders said that they “fought hard for composting. And they won.” They were pleased that Austin Resource Recovery was on track to adopt full municipal curbside compost pickup by 2020.

Founded in 2012, Compost Pedallers was an LLC formed to provide curbside compost pickup services on bicycle and “Growing a Greener Austin.” Over their seven years in operation, they donated more than 135,000 kilograms (300,000 pounds) of finished compost to a dozen urban farms, saving an estimated $30,000 in soil amendments. Although unfortunate for the owners and participants of the program, their loss appears to be a positive trend toward attitudes of residential composting.

Read the full article on private compost haulers by Levi Gardner at Food Tank.