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Compost Joe's Turns Trash Into Business Treasure
By Jeff Bollier of the Oshkosh Northwestern - May 18, 2009
Kirk Everson stopped into the
New Moon Cafe one morning last year, ordered his usual
iced coffee and struck pay dirt.
Instead of throwing the coffee shop's used grounds in the
trash, Everson asked New Moon co-owner Aaron Baer to toss
them into a separate bin, a recycling bin of sorts.
"When Kirk said he'd take all of our grounds, I was impressed,"
Baer said. "That's probably 200 pounds of grounds he pucks
up twice a week and is keeping out of the landfill."
Everson and farmer Dave Johnson take the heavy, soggy bags
of latte leftovers to a Van Dyne farm near U.S. Highway 41
where it's dried out a little and mixed into a pile of
decaying leaves and other organic matter at a ratio of one
part grounds to two parts compost.
And with that, Compost Joe's Premium Soils and Organics
has literally turned one man's trash into a business treasure.
"None of this was ever dirt," Everson said. "It's that bottom
inch of the forest floor material. The coffee grounds give
it a great nutritional kick."
The New Moon may have been an early adopter, but Everson,
Johnson, and Robb Ott, the trio behind Compost Joe's, have
scoured the area between Fond du Lac and Oshkosh asking every
business that makes copious amounts of coffee to save their
grounds for them to use. Condon Oil convenience stores have
recently signed on to the program, but right now, the New
Moon is one of the few establishments that gives them grounds
and sells the finished product at $10 per bag.
"We'll partner with whoever we can make arrangements with,"
Everson said. "This is about making it so no more compostable
materials go into landfills. The ground makes a wonderful
soil amendment."
It takes six months to shred, dry and properly mix the grounds
into compost that has the right nitrogen and carbon levels
to complete the finished product, which Everson said does
wonders for house plants, gardens and outdoor foliage.
"A half-inch on top of house plants' soil and the nutrients
will seep right into them," Everson said. "Even cactus thrive
on this."
In addition, they strike out to Ripon, Rosendale, Omro,
and any other community that will let Compost Joe's take
leaves to add to a compost pile that has grown large over
the four years since it was started.
The entire compost operation has been reviewed and permitted
by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
But Compost Joe's is still in its infancy. The company only
recently had finished product to sell because of the long
time period of time it takes compost to degrade to the point
where it looks like dirt. And Everson said they don't plan
to stop at coffee grounds. The company has started to evaluate
other materials and products for potential recycling and
has already impressed its suppliers.
"I can think of nothing wrong with this idea," Baer said.
"We're re-using hundreds of pounds of waste. It's awesome.
And the green thumbs out there seem to love (the final product)." |
