What Goes Around, Grows Around

The Compost Exchange is a Columbus-based company that has created a simple system for turning food waste into something useful. Through a subscription, customers receive a yellow 5-gallon bucket to collect their food scraps. Each week, the bucket is picked up and the scraps are sent to local farm partners, where they are processed into nutrient-rich compost. In return, customers can receive two free portions of finished compost each year for their own gardens. The yellow buckets themselves are even repurposed containers originally collected from local restaurants, extending their life instead of introducing more plastic into the waste stream.

Our Vision: At The Compost Exchange, we envision a world without food waste. We ensure all households and businesses have readily-available systems to divert unconsumed food from landfills and convert it into nutrient-rich compost. We act as a catalyst for municipalities and property managers to provide those systems to their residents. With a proud history of excellent customer service, we are the preferred partner and have become a household name for food scrap recycling in Ohio and beyond.

Residential Services: With our curbside food scrap collection service, we take food scraps off your hands and process them into compost.

Business Services: We can craft a food scrap recycling program unique to your business.

Municpial, Community, HOA: We partner with multi-family communities, HOAs, and entire municipalities to provide our services to their residents.

What I find most beautiful about The Compost Exchange is the way it turns something people see as worthless into something valuable. People are willing to pay to have their food waste taken away, even though that same waste can eventually become a resource for local agriculture. The people participating in the program are putting in more than they are getting back, but they do it because they value waste reduction, supporting farmers, and creating a healthier system for the planet. I really like what The Compost Exchange has created because it is such a specific and different approach to sustainability. It makes me think about how designers can create systems that encourage people to contribute without expecting an equal exchange in return. Instead, the reward can be knowing that your contribution is helping create something better and more sustainable.

Reference

The Compost Exchange. (n.d). Food Scrap Composting in Columbus, Ohio. https://www.thecompostexchange.com