Does Composting Make Sense For Your Business? How To Get Started

What if we told you that instead of tossing your lunch scraps into the garbage can at your office, you could recycle them into something that saves money, improves employee morale, and helps the environment?

Composting is just one of the services RoadRunner offers. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 63.1 million tons of food waste were generated in 2018. More than half of that was sent to landfills where it does not break down well and releases huge amounts of methane. The EPA believes food waste is having a major impact on global warming. Other benefits of composting include lowering waste costs for your business, taking a step toward reaching your business’ sustainability goals, and increasing your profitability.

Let’s dive into what composting is, how your business can get it started, why it’s beneficial in a number of ways, and how the process works.

What is composting?

Composting involves a large number of materials, much of which was once alive. That includes things like food waste, landscape trimmings, leaves, grass, branches, stumps, certain wood products, food-soiled paper, and material marked certifiable compostable. All of these things are recycled using heat, oxygen, bacteria, and other factors to create a nutrient-rich soil additive. 

How to compost as a business:

Getting set up with a composting program where you work is relatively easy and involves just a few steps.

• UNDERTAKE A WASTE AUDIT: Find out what your business is tossing out, how much is getting thrown away, and where employees are using garbage cans the most. That will give you a baseline from which to work.
  
  
• DECIDE WHAT PROGRAM WORKS BEST: It might make sense to compost on site if your business is small. A large office or restaurant might want to instead have their food waste hauled away to a commercial composting facility. Your local municipality may even run a public program that your business could join.
  
  
• COMMIT TO IT: Get your employees and the rest of the business on board. Educate them on how it will drive increasing profits, expand your customer base, and attract more talented employees.

Getting a composting program at your business can be another positive factor when it comes to your ESG rating as well, which could translate into major investments and profit increases.

CLICK HERE for RoadRunner’s Guide to Workplace Composting

Here's how the process works:

Setting up composting in your business is only one-half of the job. At RoadRunner, we figure out collection, transportation, and a pickup schedule that works when you need it.

• COLLECTION: Food waste is collected from restaurants and businesses.
  
  
• TRANSPORT: The material is transported to a nearby commercial composting facility.
  
  
• COMPOSTING: The composting process takes that organic waste and turns into a nutrient-rich mixture that can be added to improve soil
  
  
• CONTRIBUTES TO CIRCULAR ECONOMY: The compost is then used again by restaurants, farms, and producers to help grow healthier, more nutritious food.

What are the benefits of composting for your business?

There are a number of benefits when it comes to composting. These include saving money, improved outlook for investors, attracting top talent, less waste in landfills, and reduced greenhouse gases. All of these lead to improved office morale, means you can attract higher quality applicants and is an easy way to meet sustainability goals.

• SAVES MONEY: Composting keeps materials out of a landfill, reducing the costs for waste pickup and disposal as well as related equipment like garbage bags.
  
  
• IMPROVES OUTLOOK FOR INVESTORS: If you're looking to bring in more investment to your business or improve its public perception, starting a composting program is an easy step in that direction.
  
  
• ATTRACT TOP TALENT: People want to work for and do business with companies that have an eye on the environment and you can add the composting program to your marketing materials.
  
  
• LESS WASTE IN THE LANDFILL: The composting process takes organic material away from the landfill and to a specialized facility where it can be reused.
  
• REDUCED GREENHOUSE GASSES: Organics breaking down in a landfill produces methane which is more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Composting diverts these materials away from landfills.

Composting is easy to set up at your office or business. It’s good for the environment, can help attract investment, and can save your company money. Food waste is a major issue in the U.S. It’s one that we can actually have some control over, too. Protecting the future of our air and water will help your business see green in more ways than one.