WasteNot Compost, a Platinum Sustaining Member of the IFSCC, is a leading compost collection service in the Chicagoland area, offering both residential and commercial compost services utilizing a 100% electric fleet of waste management vehicles. Through innovative, collaborative commercial pilot programs and municipality partnerships, WasteNot is now diverting more compostable waste from landfills than ever before.
Zero-Emission Service with WasteNot
WasteNot originated from humble beginnings: a high school student and his bike trying to make an impact in Chicago. With a mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, WasteNot hoped to minimize the amount of food being sent to landfills by providing composting service to Chicagoans.
Out of necessity, WasteNot started as a zero-emissions company in 2011 and created a standard for sustainable compost collection. When WasteNot transitioned to vehicles for its collection service, they opted to get an electric van to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from transportation vehicles. WasteNot now uses 100% electric vans for compost collection, proudly operating with the largest fully electric fleet of waste management vehicles in the US. You can learn more about WasteNot’s origin story HERE.
WasteNot Compost offers a variety of collection services: residential, commercial, multi-unit, event and municipal. Currently servicing hundreds of commercial accounts in the Chicagoland area, WasteNot has adapted to fit the needs of each commercial partner by providing various cart sizes, service frequencies, and the first all-electric hooklift truck in the Midwest. Plus, WasteNot provides diversion metrics as part of its collection service, so you know exactly how much food and greenhouse gas emissions you have diverted by composting with WasteNot!
Pilot Program Successes
Over the past few years, WasteNot has introduced an innovative commercial pilot program across several municipalities. The goal for this program was to reduce barriers to composting for businesses and organizations by providing affordable composting service on a larger scale. The first pilot was located in Andersonville, partnering with the local Chamber of Commerce to provide free compost collection services to over 20 businesses for a 9-month period. By the end of the project, over 120,000 pounds of waste was diverted from landfills.
The success of the neighborhood-wide initiative in Andersonville–the first of its kind in Chicago–demonstrated the potential for large scale composting programs. A similarly structured program was set up in partnership with the Wicker Park-Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, where their subsidy allowed for businesses in the area to join and receive free compost collection service through WasteNot. A program in Oak Park was established in partnership with TakeOut25, a nonprofit aimed at creating the first green dining district in Illinois.
Within these pilot programs, WasteNot provides businesses on a neighborhood-wide scale with educational resources, compost collection and support. Here you can read more about the successes of the Andersonville and Wicker Park- Bucktown programs.
Municipal Services
WasteNot’s residential services have been expanding as a result of their success in central Chicago. In the last year, WasteNot has launched municipal curbside services in five Illinois municipalities: City of Lake Forest, Villages of Morton Grove, Riverside, Glencoe and Evergreen Park. As the selected compost collection partner for these suburbs, WasteNot provides exclusive rates to residents and businesses for year-round composting service. In addition, WasteNot offers regular updates on diversion metrics and free finished compost givebacks in order to close the loop on the composting experience.
By actively raising awareness on the importance of composting and reducing food waste, WasteNot and their municipal partners have seen an enthusiastic increase in residential composting. According to Tommy Vaughan, the business operations manager at WasteNot, the program is more than just “coming to people’s homes and collecting their waste. It’s about us being partners with the community to educate and raise awareness for food waste and composting and why it’s important,” Vaughan said. “Hopefully, it’s something that the next generation can start doing now and then can spend their whole lives composting.” With every resident that joins the program, WasteNot moves closer to its goal of creating a more sustainable and waste-free community.
Interested in commercial or residential composting? You can find out more about WasteNot’s services HERE.