Urban Composting

Washington DC-based Compost Cab is a soon to-be-launched initiative that engages busy urbanites with the phenomenon of composting. Most of the urban dwellers lack expansive yards, but the average American household produces more than 500 pounds of leftover organic material every year. Under the slogan “it’s only trash when you treat it like trash”, Compost Cab provides standardized its customers with bins equipped with a sturdy, compostable bag liner, which can be filled with organic waste. Full bags will be picked up once a week (“on a reliable, fuel-efficient schedule”), and the organics will be turned into beautiful, fertile soil. People can either choose to receive the compost or donate it to a local, non-profit urban farmer.

“The compost we create from your organics makes for extraordinary soil. (…) Once you’ve been with Compost Cab for nine months, you can start claiming your finished compost. For every 50 pounds of organics we collect from you, we’ll deliver you 5 pounds of fresh compost and 1 pound of worm castings, a magical combination for your garden.”

DC-area consumers begin by signing up online. Compost Cab will cost them $ 8 per week per bin; no long-term commitments are required. The people behind the initiative stress the importance of the concept of an ‘agricity’ (never heard of before) “as a quality or state of balanced, sustainable, connected urban life”.