Edited by: Sara Mack, Marketing Manager
This week we’ve been celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’re closing out the week with one last customer feature! If you missed the first two interviews in this series, we have been highlighting some of our most loyal subscribers who have been composting with us since 2011. You can find our conversation with Wendy here, and our conversation with Ken here. For today’s installment, we chatted with Donna about her experiences composting with us and some of the strangest things she has tossed in her bin along the way.
Compost Crew: What inspired you to begin composting with Compost Crew?
Donna: I had been trying to use a barrel composter without much luck. I was at the Bethesda Farmers Market (it was on Elm St back then, I believe) and Compost Crew had a table. Learned about the concept and I was in!
Compost Crew: 10 years is a long time! How has your life changed over the past decade?
Donna: Well, our son went from 10 to 20 – growing appetite, changing tastes, and then off to college. We’re now empty nesters.
Compost Crew: How has composting changed your perspective about food waste in general?
Donna: I’ve always felt guilty about trash, and food waste in particular. In a semi-urban environment, though, it’s hard to compost, so this is really perfect. Sometimes we bring home food scraps from our neighbors’ after a dinner, and we’ve converted a few to members as well!
Compost Crew: What is the craziest thing you ever put in your compost bin?
Donna: We do an annual ‘Clam Bake,’ so the clam, mussel, oyster, shrimp and lobster shells, plus seaweed, lemons and corn cobs. Must be interesting (and smelly!) for the pick up.
Compost Crew: How do you use your finished compost?
Donna: In the vegetable garden!
Compost Crew: If you had to guess, how many tons of food waste do you think you have diverted from landfills?
Donna: Somewhere between 8 and 10 tons, I’d guess!
Editor’s note: over the past 10 years Donna and her family have composted approximately 2.5 tons of food waste — that’s as much as five grand pianos!)
We’re sending our sincere thanks to Donna and her family for supporting our mission over the past decade. We truly couldn’t have accomplished what we have as a company without all of our customers and fans, and we can’t wait to see what the next decade holds for us as we continue to fight food waste in the DMV.
