Alexander Williams interned at Built It Green! NYC while at Fordham, working on both the abstract, office end of its compost program, along with the physical collection and maintenance of food scraps. From there, he spent a few months as the compost coordinator for GrowNYC. Both non-profits taught Williams about the logistics of turning waste into a usefulness substance.
Experience alone does not pay the bills, so Williams headed out of the big city and back to his hometown of West Hartford. With his degree in Environmental Studies, Economics, and Urban Planning, he was looking for work aligned with this background. He found Blue Earth Compost. Susannah Castle, its founder, wanted to move on. Right place, right time, right background. Williams stepped in as the new owner this past spring.
Blue Earth Compost is small, with three residential clients in Hartford and 35 in West Hartford. There are a few businesses that participate, including the Kitchen at Billings Forge and reSET. For a fee, Williams collects food scraps, brings them to Harvest New England in Ellington, and returns the finished compost to subscribers.
To date, 8,000 pounds of food waste have been collected from residential and small businesses. Collections include not just vegetable peels and apple cores, but bread, meat, bones, pet food, cardboard, houseplants, and more. Subscribers throw everything in a green pail, similar to how the single-stream recycling program in Hartford does not require residents to separate the different types of items.
Williams calls the “creation of a valuable resource” a “no-brainer” and sees a lot of potential for impact and education in this area where he says he does not have to work “against entrenched interests.”
The company has a pilot program at Breakthrough Magnet II (North). Students at the school on Lyme Street have learned how the substance is formed and classrooms were given compost to use. Last year Blue Earth Compost worked with four classrooms; this year, it’ll be ten.
But in a city with such a high poverty rate — it’s over 40% in the neighborhood where the Kitchen at Billings Forge is located — there are questions about how to expand. The wealthier neighborhoods — West End and Downtown — actually have no residential Blue Earth Compost clients currently. Many homes in the West End have yards where a compost pile will not disrupt anyone’s sensibilities, but most housing in Downtown does not offer green space and few people are willing to let their apartments host vermicompost bins.
While working in New York, Williams saw that there was interest in closing the loop, with residents able to drop off food scraps in all boroughs including at subway stops and farmers’ markets; the compost produced is used in community gardens, street trees, and other public projects. That program, however, was grant funded, allowing people to participate regardless of income.
The City of Hartford initiated contact with Blue Earth Compost about a pilot program a few months ago, but despite a promising first connection, Williams said the conversation seems to have stalled in a game of phone tag.
In this next year, Williams hopes to have some farmers’ markets and CSAs serve as food scrap drop-off points.
He said he is also seeking to attract more large-scale clients like hotels, food pantries, apartment buildings, and restaurants. The commercial clients could serve as a backbone, he said, and he’s considering offering another level of residential subscription that would essentially subsidize the service for those with less income.
For more info call (860) 508-7114 or write info@blueearthcompost.com
