“Feed People, Not Landfills.”

Rust Belt Riders' goal is simple – yet transformative.

Since 2014, the Cleveland- based worker-owned composting cooperative has been dedicated to food autonomy, climate resilience and making the region, and world, better – one business and residence at a time – by turning food waste into soil.

“We work in a variety of different ways with the community and with our residential and commercial clients to divert food waste from the landfills. That's the heart of what we do. We see that work as very important in changing the narrative and creating a resource that belongs to the community,” said commercial sales coordinator Robert Kurtz on a recent weekday afternoon at their 4,500-square foot garage and office space on St. Clair Avenue. (Their composting facilities are in Independence and Canton.)

The company offers both commercial and residential composting solutions. Waste is picked up from businesses; residential service can be picked up or drop-off.  This organic material is made into compost which serves as the base for Tilth soil blends sold at their office, Heinen’s grocery stores, Kurtz Brothers landscape and garden supply and a wide variety of nurseries, coffee shops and more.

“Food does not deserve a landfill,” says residential services director Zoe Apisdorf.  “When we have excess food, whether it's food scraps, food that's gone bad or food that is no longer edible, sending it to the landfill also sends with it all of the resources that went into bringing that food to our table - the shipping, the packaging, the handling, the water consumption, the farmer's hands.

 

 

“All of that money is also sent to the landfill. Approximately $218B yearly is spent on the growing, processing and handling of food that never gets eaten. We want to make sure that we are providing a community benefit and at the same time affecting our economic system in a better way.”

Their system is designed to be as simple as possible for clients. Businesses are equipped with five, 32 or 64 gallon containers to collect waste, which is picked up weekly. Today, trucks make the pick up – quite a change from the early days of bike transport (hence the name).  Fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, meat and bones, dairy, brew grain and BPI-Certified service ware can all be composted. They also provide weekly container replacement, BPI-Certified compostable liners and monthly diversion data reporting. Residential clients receive five-gallon buckets. In a neat touch, you can track your environmental impact through their site, and get soil every spring.

The roots of the Riders are in the restaurant industry.

“Dan Brown and Michael Robinson started the business in 2014 as a solution to the problem of food waste coming out of the restaurant industry,” says Apisdorf. “They were both at Spice Kitchen and Bar, along with Robert, and they were trying to start a community garden in downtown Cleveland, but the soil was inhospitable. And so, they asked the owner of Spice, ‘Hey, can we have these food scraps that are coming out both the front and the back of house?”

Eventually, this er, grass roots organization grew into a full-scale business opportunity, with EPA approval of their composting site and procedure. 

 

 

Rust Belt Riders now has more than 30 employees.

The pandemic slowed them down, but a forced pivot to residential clients has proved beneficial now that commercial service has bounced back.

“During the pandemic, a lot of our businesses shut down, restaurants and food services that were no longer open, but that shifted into an increase in subscribers for our home services because people were at home cooking their meals, and more plugged in to their families and into thinking about things,” says Apisdorf.

Their client base continues to grow. They have seen a large increase in schools and municipalities as clients, in part driven by Federal incentives. Many non-restaurant businesses realize the value and environmental impact of composting wood waste – including Greater Cleveland Partnership.

“GCP is committed to minimizing our collective impact on the environment and reducing our overall expenses through focused efforts to become more sustainable and efficient and our partnership with Rust Belt Riders helps us do just that! We are working to eliminate any wasted food in the first place, but it has been great to compost any leftovers we may have so then we are truly not creating any food waste,” says Emily Keller, Manager of Sustainability Initiatives.

Adds Kurtz: “Our growth is really a testament to the heroes of the story being our clients, folks that are choosing to work with us without municipal pressure to do so or a financial incentive, but rather just a community of Clevelanders that are seeing our work as valuable and wanting to participate.”

Want to get involved with Rust Belt Riders? They are featuring a special offer for GCP and COSE members.  Use the case sensitive code 'COMMERCIALPARTNER'  to receive the first month free on their drop-off program.

 

 

 

If your workplace is interested in compost service, reach out to service@rustbeltriders.com or call 216-800-4651 Ext. 3.

Rust Belt Riders: Feed People, Not Landfills