If you have been wanting to start composting but are unsure or do not have space to for it, Compost Columbus offers a subscription based composting service. Cameron Nicodemus, 25, started the business in June of 2013 and has grown the business to 26 subscribers with hard work and blue buckets of enthusiasm.
“Once I saw the beauty in composting I was hooked,” says Nicodemus. “Taking organic decaying matter and turning it into dirt that is nutrient dense while being packed with living organisms, using that dirt to grow a spectacular garden, it’s beautiful. Composting is a lost art that’s making a comeback. I was very surprised a city as great and trendy as Columbus had yet to offer food waste collection for residents.”
Nicodemus grew up in a family that valued composting. “Everything organic was tossed into the compost pile,” he says. “When I first lived in Dublin I had no place to compost and was determined to not toss my food scraps in the trash, so I found some land in Plain City to lease and haven’t looked back since.”
He says composting is his passion and he wanted to fill that void in the Columbus residential market.
“I’m passionate about Mother Earth and knew I could help. I already had my personal composting in Plain City set up. I figured it wouldn’t take much to start composting for other folks. I needed paperwork, buckets, and a website.”
Subscriptions cost $5 per week and payments are made monthly.
The process
A new subscriber will sign up on our website. They provide the home address and what bucket size is prefered. I’ll get a notification of the new sign up and deliver the bucket, along with a fridge magnet of what/what not to toss in the bucket and a paper labeling your collection day. On your collection day, set your bucket on your front porch, and I come swap your bucket with an empty clean one. I weigh your food waste and then compost it. If you’d like your compost back we deliver how much you want based on the weight we’ve collected from you.
“The two biggest factors preventing people from composting is the time and know-how,” says Nicodemus. “You really have to baby your compost to have a nice pile that’s bursting with nutrients, the right Carbon:Nitrogen ratio and temperatures for the living organisms to thrive are very important.”
What not to compost: Meat, dairy, or bones.
What you can compost: Eggshells, tea bags, coffee filters, q-tips (non-plastic kind), napkins, dryer and vacuum lint, old vitamins, pet hair, and moldy breads and leftovers.
“The last bite of your sandwich won’t do harm either!” he says.
In the beginning, Nicodemus sourced his blue 1.5 gallon pails from Donatos restaurants. “I can thank my grandmother for that,” he says. “She would stop in Donatos and request the emptied mushroom containers.”
Being resourceful kept his business costs to a minimum but as his subscriber base grew, he had to purchase more pails directly from the manufacturer.
To date, Compost Columbus has diverted 1,800 pounds of food waste from the landfill, making it ready to enrich spring gardens.
“For those that have no use for the finished compost, I’m still working on ways to supply it back to the community,” he says. “I’d love to have our compost grow food that can be made available back to the community. For my subscribers to eat the fruit of their labor. I’ll need to get started on a few greenhouses and gardens!”
Compost Columbus will also do compost pile removal and perform collection at events, such as weddings or 5k races. Collections take place not only in Columbus, but all over Franklin County.
For more information, visit CompostColumbus.com. For the month of November, Compost Columbus is offering Columbus Underground readers ½ off their first month of service. Enter code “halfoff” online during the subscription process. Offer valid through November 30, 2013.
From November 11th to 17th, Columbus Underground is featuring our Cooking at Home series, brought to you by The North Market. Stop by the new North Market this holiday shopping season for all of your speciality foods, prepared foods and other cooking needs! And be sure to pick up the brand new North Market Cookbook — it’s full of great recipe ideas, and makes a great holiday gift too!