Thanks to a new bicycle compost collection business, Burlington is now one step closer to standing side-by-side with Portland, Ore., and other progressive bike-centric cities. Revolution Compost, a new service of One Revolution, a relatively new bicycle hauling operation in Burlington, picks up residential compost by bike and deposits it at the Chittenden Solid Waste District drop-off center on Pine Street. The service began mid-March, and so far has 18 customers. (We profiled One Revolution here.)
Mark Bromley, who runs the business with his two adult kids, Sam and Anna, explains the service like this:
For a one-time start-up fee of $25, Revolution Compost provides customers with a compost tote into which folks can dump their compost directly. (They can also provide compostable bags for an extra cost.) Every Tuesday (or every other Tuesday, depending on the customer’s needs), Revolution will come pick up the compost and pedal it down to CSWD. Weekly pick-up costs $8; biweekly pick-up costs $10.
Composting by bike has its rewards beyond environmental sustainability. For every 30 gallons (or five totes) that Revolution hauls away from a customer, that customer earns a five-gallon bag of Intervale Compost, delivered to his/her door by bike. That’s a pretty good deal, Bromley says — “One would be hard-pressed to make that much compost with 30 gallons of scraps.”
In the month they’ve been at it, Revolution has generated a fair bit of buzz. And since the Intervale operation closed down, the timing for their venture couldn’t have been more perfect. People who don’t want to drive to Pine Street or one of CSWD’s six other drop-off sites because they’re lazy are totally set. And people who are worried about expending fossil fuels to transport their compost can feel secure in the knowledge that no CO2 was emitted in the process.
While Revolution Compost is certainly a novel business here in Chittenden County — at present, they are the only bicycle compost pick-up — the idea isn’t all that new. In Northhampton, Mass., Pedal People has been hauling people’s compost away for years. Then there’s VeloVeggies in Minneapolis, Eureka Recycling in St. Paul, Minn., and Pedal Co-op in Philadelphia, all providing similar compost hauling services. Still, it’s new to Burlington, and somewhat more challenging given the climate and the hills.
The early positive response gives Bromley hope. “We’re feeling pretty confident about it,” he says. “We’re feeling like it’s a real viable thing.”
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2011.
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I’m not a regular blogger so am enthralled by the comments – all the comments! Our humble little venture is in fact a business but one small part of the whole. Livable wages are indeed hard to come by with many small businesses and ours is no different. Everyone of us has other ventures and interests. We hope simply that it is a valuable service for some and know its not for everyone. To our customers credit, they believe enough in the value of soil and waste reduction to pay for the service. We cannot live on this alone but bicycles and small ventures taken collectively have the capacity to change our communities for the better. Small ventures – hence the name of our parent business – One Revolution. Not a big revolution, – one small individual humble revolution on a bigger path. Thanks to Seven Days and all the great comments!
Certainly, Mr. Benchly. Revolution Compost, a sub-business of One Revolution, has, at present 18 customers. This is after just a month of operation and zero advertising. One Revolution itself has many regular clients, including the Intervale Food Hub, for whom Bromley’s company hauls thousands of pounds of produce all over the city.
JCARTER, unless I’m reading the article wrong, I think One Revolution’s “Compost Revolution” service has 18 compost customers thus far, but that this number doesn’t account for however many customers One Revolution has for their other services, which are (taken from their website): wholesale distribution, retail delivery, publication distribution, same day package delivery, catering delivery, and CSA delivery. And this also doesn’t account for any money earned through the advertising spots they offer on their bike trailers. Lauren, could you please clarify the 18 customer number?
My bad, Thanks for pointing that out Tyler, I totally read the article as recycling. Now you can see my pessimissim with makeing a go of this business. I still think the business is a long shot, but it makes much more sense. My apologies for misreading the article.