(originally posted by Rolandovich over at Oly Ost, thanks for the permission to reprint!)

Ever wondered where your yard waste and now hopefully, your food waste goes after it’s picked up? If not, stop reading.

It goes to Silver Springs Organics, LLC, near Rainier, Washington. I was inspired to write this post because I recently emailed a couple of questions via their website and not long thereafter, I received a call from the founder of Silver Springs, Greg Schoenbachler.

Greg let me pepper him with questions for about 10-15 minutes before I let him go. My questions began with, what is done with the compost? According to Greg, Silver Spring’s currently sends much of their compost to soil remediation and flood mitigation for the I-5 projects in south Thurston, north Lewis counties. Although anyone can buy the compost for their own use, most of it tends to go to wholesalers where it is distrubuted to landscapers and nurseries.

The process only takes about 45 days from ‘waste’ to compost. Knowing how long my yard compost takes, I found this stunning. 

Greg also mentioned that that the compost facility offers tours a couple of times a year for interested parties. I am a compost freak so I was eager to take him up on it.

Closing loops in our ecological cycles is essential if we ever hope that the planet will be able to sustain its population and I admire those entreprenuers who have sought out business models that reduce waste and recycle it back into useful, nay valuable, material.

If you have not already, start using your yard bin for your food waste, and if you have any quesitons, Greg seems excited to answer them.