AWARD YEAR
2015
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Life On Land
KEYWORDS
compost, Bikes, Urban Agriculture
COUNTRY
United States of America
DESIGNED BY
Dustin Fedako / Eric Goff / Brian Malarski
WEBSITE
https://compostpedallers.com/
Compost Pedallers
The Compost Pedallers collect organics from homes & businesses and delivers them to urban farms.
The Compost Pedallers are a bike-powered compost recycling company in Austin, Texas. We have designed a new method for managing the urban waste stream. By reimagining the urban core as an ecosystem, our model unites disparate urban agriculture centers within a city into what we call the Organic Smart Grid. We manage this smart grid using a fleet of cargo bicycles, routing software that we designed. Since our first collection in 2012, we have kept over 300,000 pounds out of the landfill, saved $8,000 for local farmers, saved over 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel from being combusted and diverted 43 tons of methane gas from the atmosphere. We have also designed a unique user experience featuring a loyalty program where our composting members can trade in compost cash they earn for rewards from local businesses, as well as a score card to track their sustainability impact. At the core of this project, we are redesigning the way people see organics, not as waste, but as resource.