Composting takes a turn for the better

By Naïma Hill

The must-have home service is finally in Dallas, and it’s here to stay!

It’s time to take more than 30 percent of your trash and turn it back into a usable product. Organic waste such as vegetable scraps, egg shells, bread and more release methane when thrown in our unproductive landfills. Methane is a greenhouse gas 20-25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Instead of “wasting this waste,” we can easily turn that waste into compost.

Turn Compost launched a few weeks ago and has already expanded to seven zip codes. With their weekly or biweekly subscription your organic waste gets picked up at your doorstep and brought to local farms for animal feed and composting. In return for your waste you receive mulch two times a year and a monthly surprise goody! Next month, is a bottle of liquid gold, aka honey from Bonton Farms. The best part of their service might be that they take the bucket and replace it with a clean and sanitized one! To me, that’s the real gold. You should see my kitchen compost bowl … gross. I currently use a tumbler compost bin in my backyard but, once Turn Compost comes to my neighborhood, I’m in. Composting is a simple process but it’s still a bit of a hassle to turn my tumbler every few days. To properly compost you really need two bins — one that you’re currently filling with organic material and the other that you let sit and work through into compost. For five years, I have not done things this way. I’m a lazy yet still successful composter. Turn Compost will make this process even easier for me … and did I mention the clean bucket!?

Turn Compost is owned by two local ladies looking to make a difference in the food industry. As graduates of the El Centro Culinary Arts program, Lauren Clarke and Agueda Jacobo are empowered to build a company that focuses on fixing our food waste problem, treating customers how they would want to be treated, and becomes a gardening and cooking resource in our community.

“We are really passionate about educating people. We are not just a service, it (Turn Compost) is a social advocacy tool promoting garden to table to garden so people understand the whole cycle,” Clarke said.

You may have already seen these ladies around town spreading their work. They’ll be back at the White Rock Good Local Markets on June 2. You can pick up your compost bucket kit there or order online and they’ll drop it off at your door. If you’re like me these days, if it can be ordered online, I’m all over it.

If you’re not interested in a weekly or biweekly service, they also offer a one-time pick up service or you can drop off your own compost at their farmer’s market booth for a smaller fee. Your reasons for not composting are becoming fewer and fewer with this new local service.

Turn Compost is not just for residential use, they are also partnering with local restaurants and businesses. Wouldn’t it be great to walk into a restaurant and see a sign on their window that boasts all of their organic waste doesn’t go into the landfill, it gets upcycled!? You can count on me to eat there often. If you’re a business interested in making this happen and helping Dallas move forward into a brighter more sustainable future, let me know so I can feature you right here in this column!

If you’re not in one of these zip codes: 75204, 75206, 75214, 75218, 75223, 75228, 75238, go online to TurnCompost.com and let them know you need them in your zip code soon. I’ll be waiting, but not on the sidelines, because this local women-owned environmental business needs our community support!

  Featured