Making it Work: Improving Your Collection Programs
Michael Robinson
Co-Founder
Rust Belt Riders Composting
Cleveland, Ohio
The presentation will begin by defining “community composting”, providing some examples of different operations from around the US. This will give the audience a shared understanding as the term is used moving forward.
From here I will talk about the genesis and growth of Rust Belt Riders over the past four years from a bicycle based operation working with community gardens to running a fleet of trucks and partnering with an industrial facility, Kurtz Brothers.
I will discuss the mutually beneficial relationship we have with Kurtz Brothers and how it has allowed us to grow organics recycling in northeast Ohio together. I will discuss the partnership between small and large scale operations more generally to demonstrate how community composters create technological, mechanical, and biological innovations in the industry, as well as develop novel value propositions to create markets where none previously existed.
The presentation will conclude by summarizing the importance of partnerships between small and large organizations to the growth of the organics collection and composting industry.