Greener Bay Compost featured in the Green Bay Press-Gazette

We are excited to announce that Greener Bay Compost has been featured in an article by the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Ariel Perez, dated 2/23/2023, highlighting our partnership with companies such as Bellin Health and NWTC.

You may view the article in full at: https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/money/2023/02/23/nwtc-bellin-health-use-green-bay-compost-service-to-reduce-food-waste/69848007007/

Greener Bay Compost featured in the Press Times for its Recycling Excellence Award win

We are excited to announce that Greener Bay Compost has been featured in an article by the City of Green Bay’s official newspaper, the Press Times, dated 11/28/2022, highlighting our 2022 Wisconsin DNR Recycling Excellence Award win.

You may view the article in full at: https://gopresstimes.com/2022/11/28/two-green-bay-businesses-receive-wisconsin-recycling-excellence-awards/

Greener Bay Compost wins Wisconsin DNR’s 2022 Recycling Excellence Award for “Overall Program”

We are proud to announce that we have been awarded the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) 2022 Recycling Excellence Award for “Overall Program,” thanks in large part to our cornerstone Residential Compost Pickup Service.

Per the Wisconsin’s DNR’s website:

The Department of Natural Resources recognizes outstanding recycling and waste minimization efforts through its annual Recycling Excellence Award program.

The DNR offers the Recycling Excellence Awards not only in recognition of efforts made but also as a way of highlighting ideas with proven track records that others might use to improve their recycling endeavors.

The “Overall Program” category of the Awards recognizes programs that are robust and constantly improving, demonstrating a commitment to advance the overall recycling/diversion program.

To read more about our winning of this award, you may visit the following websites:

Wisconsin Recycling Excellence Awards (Wisconsin DNR)

Two Green Bay Programs Receive Wisconsin Recycling Excellence Award (Green Bay News Network)

DNR Celebrates Wisconsin Recycling Excellence Award Winners On America Recycles Day (Baldwin Bulletin)

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: We are now accepting Cooked Meat & Solid Dairy!

We have a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT to make! Effectively immediately, we are now accepting in our buckets the following organic materials:

• Cooked meat (including beef, poultry, pork, fish, etc.) (no bones!)
• Solid dairy (cheese slices, powder, etc.) (melted is ok)

Please note: We are still not accepting raw meat (including raw fish/sushi) or what we refer to as “soft dairy” (milk, yogurt, sour cream, etc.), unless it is in small amounts on/in, or baked into, other foods.

This means we will now take, for example, and just to name a few things, the following items (because we know we will get questions about this):

• Restaurant leftovers (minus any bones)
• Mac n Cheese (made with either powdered cheese mixed with milk or pre-made cheese sauce)
• Lasagna, spaghetti, fettuccine, etc., including with alfredo sauce, ricotta cheese, grated parmesan, etc. on/in it
• Pizza (with all the toppings still on it)
• Chips like Doritos, which are covered in cheese powder
• Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc., even if they have some melted cheese sauce, a little sour cream, etc. on them
• Cheeseburgers
• Chicken nuggets/fingers
• Green, moldy cheese
• Entire containers full of homemade meals (like that casserole from last Thanksgiving you forgot you made) that went bad in the back of your fridge

If it hasn’t become apparent yet, what we are doing here is a real game-changer for both us and our subscribers, and we have our friends at Glass Nickel Pizza to thank, in large part, for prompting this change. You see, when we took them on as a subscriber a few months again, we made an exception for them by allowing them to provide us cooked meat and solid dairy, because it wouldn’t make sense for them to compost with us if we couldn’t take such things from them.

Fast-forward to today, and we have determined that, with our compost site being in the Town of Lessor, as opposed to where it used to be (in my backyard), we no longer need to be concerned about attracting rodents or about “offensive odors,” and are thus able to safely accept cooked meat and solid dairy from all our subscribers, without fear of running afoul of Green Bay metropolitan area ordinances.

In accordance with this announcement, we have updated our List of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials, which you can find at https://www.GBCompost.com/List/.

(Please note: The above link can also be found at the bottom of the homepage of www.GBCompost.com)

PLEASE DELETE AND/OR RECYCLE ANY OLD COPIES OF THE LIST YOU MAY BE USING OR REFERRING TO AND REPLACE THEM WITH THIS ONE.

This change to our list of of materials we accept is the biggest, most impactful change we have ever made to said list, and we hope it will do a few things:

1. Add major value for all of our Residential subscribers, who can now safely (and sustainably) dispose of a much larger percentage of their household food waste with us (including materials that even the Wisconsin DNR doesn’t recommend anyone attempt to compost in their own backyards)
2. Increase the amount of organic material we receivefrom some subscribers by upwards of 25-33% or more, thus making it easier for those who perhaps do not produce a lot of veggie or fruit waste to justify using our services long-term
3. Massively increase the volume of food waste we save from landfill and compost every month, thereby making our business greener than it has ever been and providing us much more feedstock for our finely sifted, premium compost (for sale now at GBCompost.com/Compost)
4. Pave the way for us to bring on many more Small Business subscribers, in particular, restaurants (like Glass Nickel Pizza, currently our sole Small Business subscriber), for whom meat and cheese waste makes up quite a large percentage of what they throw in the trash every week

If you have any questions or concerns about this announcement, please let us know by using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Until next time, best wishes and happy composting!

Our List of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials has been Updated (plus a quick word on contamination)

Just a quick heads up: We just updated our List of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials, which you can now find at https://www.gbcompost.com/list/.

(Please note: The above link can also be found at the bottom of the homepage of www.GBCompost.com)

PLEASE DELETE AND/OR RECYCLE ANY OLD COPIES OF THE LIST YOU MAY BE USING OR REFERRING TO AND REPLACE THEM WITH THIS ONE.

A VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT BUCKET CONTAMINATION:

Before we summarize the changes that have been made, we would like to use this opportunity to remind all of our subscribers that we do not accept plastic, metal, or glass in our buckets and never have, and that it is our subscribers’ responsibility to remove materials we accept from plastic bags before putting them in their buckets, as well as to remove all stickers, rubber bands, twist ties, tape, staples, etc. from fresh produce before providing it us.

We are bringing this up because in the last few weeks, despite us having not had an enormous number of new subscribers come into the company in the past few months, we have noticed a dramatic uptick in the number of buckets we are picking up which contain contaminants, most notably produce stickers, rubber bands, and non-compostable plastic bags with food inside of them.

We do not know if this has to do with the fact that a few months ago we stopped sending emails to everyone whose buckets we found contamination in, but would like to remind all our subscribers that we still screen the contents of every bucket we receive by hand to identify and remove contaminants, and that when we do find contaminants, we make note of it and whose bucket it was found in, even though we may not send an email about it.

Please know that us no longer (or rarely) sending emails to our subscribers about contamination in our buckets does not mean we no longer care about it or that it isn’t a major problem for us, when we find it.

Contamination is, and always has been, a major concern of ours, as it is for all composters, especially whereas the quality of our compost (and the time it takes us to produce it), depends on the materials we receive being as contaminant-free as possible.

It takes a lot of time and a lot of work for us, as a small, two-person, family-run business to screen the contents of 70+ buckets each week, and we kindly request that all subscribers help us keep contaminants out of their buckets by:

1. Removing all stickers, rubber bands, twist ties, tape, etc. from fresh produce as soon as it is brought home
2. Double-(and triple, if necessary)-checking materials before they’re added to our buckets, to ensure they’re not contaminated with plastic, glass, metal, etc.
3. Not allowing young children or friends/family members who are not familiar with our List of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials to add materials to our buckets, without appropriate coaching and/or supervision

Please know that if you put contaminants in your buckets, you’re hurting us, but you’re also hurting yourself (assuming you ever intend to buy compost from us, or earn any through our Waste Reduction Rewards Program) and anyone else who may wish to do so, because the amount of time we have to spend on producing the compost (which includes pulling contaminants out of it), directly relates to the price we charge for it, as well as the quality of it (which is very high, because of how much time we spend screening contaminants out of it).

Bottom line: We alone cannot keep our compost clean. We need your help, because we receive almost all the feedstock for our compost from you. So please, help us (and yourself) by not letting contaminants come anywhere near our buckets, and in return, we will continue providing you the same great service you’ve always received from us, and producing the best compost anywhere within 100 miles of Green Bay.

Thank you in advance for your help with the above! We very much appreciate it.

TO SUMMARIZE THE CHANGES TO OUR LIST:

Now that that’s out of the way, we’d like to go over the changes made to our List of Acceptable & Not Acceptable Materials, which are relatively minor:

• We have added Bread to the Acceptable side of the List as a stand-alone item we accept, because despite our previous Lists stating we accept any grains or grain-based materials, including bread, we have been asked quite often over the past few months whether we accept bread. So hopefully this update clears up any confusion surrounding this.
• We have updated our listing of dead/dying houseplants on the Acceptable side of the List to indicate that we just don’t want them to have been chemically-treated, meaning diseased plants are now okay. Also, we have clarified that it is thick root balls we do not want (which should be removed from plants before placing them in our buckets). Roots in general, as well as root balls that can be easily torn apart or crumbled by hand are completely fine by us (think seed starts, for example).
• We have updated our listing of plain/matte paper and cardboard on the Acceptable side of the list to align with an email we sent to all subscribers on 9/21/22 which stated that we no longer accept junk mail or its contents. In determining whether something is “junk mail” or not, we ask our subscribers to use common sense, and if you’re not sure if what you’re thinking of putting in your bucket is junk mail or not, we humbly request you recycle it instead (and this especially goes for envelopes with plastic windows and/or stamps on them).
• We have updated the Acceptable side of the list to indicate that we still accept pumpkins and gourds, assuming they can fit in our buckets, but have removed “corn stalks” and “straw bales,”because these things can clearly not fit inside our buckets and never should have been on this List (which is not a list of things we accept in general, but rather things we accept in our buckets) to begin with.
• We have updated our listing of soft-shelled crustacean shells on the Acceptable side of the list to indicate that we accept crab legs and lobster tails, as we were recently asked by a subscriber if we would take crab legs and lobster tails from a seafood party they were attending, and realized that this section of the List needed to be more clear.
• We have updated the Not Acceptable side of the List to clarify that we do not want lawn grass or lawn mower clippings, period. It does not matter whether the grass has grown in a subscribers lawn or they found it in their garden; we do not want it, period, because the risk of weed-killer/glyphosate/Round-up contamination with grass is unacceptably high.
• We have updated the Not Acceptable side of the List to clarify that when we say we do not want root balls, it is not, say, seed starts we are referring to or small clumps of roots that can be easily torn apart or crumbled by hand, but rather thick balls of roots like those attached to potted mums. We had to make this change because we continue to receive a lot of questions about root balls. Basically, the rule of thumb is, if you can’t pull the root ball apart with your bare hands, we don’t want, because we also can’t pull them apart.
• We have updated the Not Acceptable side of the List to add “Swiffer” pads as Not Acceptable, in addition to wet wipes and baby wipes, because, for some odd reason we just received a Swiffer pad last week, and for those who do not know, Swiffer pads (and other, similar pads) are made with synthetic fibers (which are something that has been on the Not Acceptable side of our list since Greener Bay Compost started).

If you have any questions or concerns about any of the above changes to our List, or anything else mentioned in this announcement, please let us know by using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Until next time, best wishes and happy composting!

Sign-Up for Greener Bay Compost’s 2nd Annual Pumpkin Drive Has Begun!

This year, Greener Bay Compost is proud to host our 2nd Annual Pumpkin Drive event, which will see us pick up and sustainably dispose of pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks, and Indian corn by composting them, 100% FREE OF CHARGE, through the first three weekends of November 2022, for anyone residing in Green Bay, Allouez, Ashwaubenon, Bellevue, De Pere, Hobart, Howard, Ledgeview, or Suamico!

Subscribers to our Residential or Small Business Compost Pickup or Drop-Off Services will receive weight-based credit, under our Waste Reduction Rewards Program, for any and all pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks, and Indian corn they provide to us during this event.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR PICKUP OF YOUR PUMPKINS, GOURDS, CORN STALKS, AND INDIAN CORN TODAY!

PLEASE NOTE: We will NOT be picking up any of the above-named items if they contain tea lights or are decorated with paint, marker, glitter, or any other type of chemical or contaminant. Additionally we will NOT be picking up any straw or hay bales, due to how large/bulky they are. Items we do not take can be taken to your local Yard Waste site, as listed below:

• Green Bay Yard Waste information: https://greenbaywi.gov/YardWaste
• Allouez Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofallouezwi.gov/depts/public-works/yard-waste-and-waste-oil-drop-off-site/
• Ashwaubenon Yard Waste Information: https://ashwaubenon.gov/government/departments/public-works-streets/yard-waste-disposal/
• Bellevue Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofbellevuewi.gov/departments/public_works/garbage__recycling___yard_waste/yard_waste
• De Pere Yard Waste Information: https://www.deperewi.gov/topic/index.php?topicid=278&structureid=88
• Hobart Yard Waste Information: https://www.hobart-wi.org/public-works
• Howard Yard Waste Information: http://www.villageofhoward.com/174/Yard-Waste-Removal
• Ledgeview Yard Waste Information: https://www.ledgeviewwisconsin.com/departments/public-works/yard-waste/
• Suamico Yard Waste Information: https://www.suamico.org/departments/public_works_engineering/yard_waste_site.php

BENEFITS OF UTILIZING THIS 100% FREE SERVICE:
	Avoid the Inconvenience of Needing to Take Your Pumpkins, Gourds, Corn Stalks, or Indian Corn to your local Yard Waste site		Fast, Friendly, Efficient Service from a Small, Local, Family-Run Business
	Feel Good Knowing Your Fall Decorations Will Become Nutrient-Rich Compost for Local Gardens		Support Us and Our One-of-a-Kind Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Services with Wonderful Sources of Both Nitrogen and Carbon

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UPDATE: Major changes to our policy on waste provided to us outside of our buckets

We are, today, making the following changes to our policies regarding waste provided to us outside of our buckets:

Effective immediately, we will be enforcing a stricter ban on materials provided to us outside of our buckets on Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, with the exception of plain/matte pizza boxes, the following list of dry, “high carbon” materials (assuming they can fit inside no more than (2) paper or plastic bags which are no larger than traditional grocery store bags), and any materials we have authorized a subscriber to provide to us outside of their buckets (via a written exception):

1. Plain/matte paper and cardboard items (including, for example, clean or soiled pizza boxes, clean or soiled fast food takeout bags, soiled paper towels and napkins that have not been in contact with chemicals, paper grocery bags, toilet paper and paper towel tubes, egg cartons, newspapers with glossy inserts removed, etc.), with all tape, stickers, staples, and other contaminants removed
2. Fall/autumn leaves (as long as they are not mixed/intermingled with grass/lawn mower clippings, brush, and/or copious amounts of sticks, pinecones, etc.)

As an aside, please note that we still do not accept receipts, as they are made of toxic thermal paper. Going forward, we will also no longer be accepting “junk mail,” including unopened junk mail envelopes and/or their contents, as “junk mail” takes an inordinate amount of time for us to process/sort, compared to the other materials listed above, and pose a far greater risk of contamination to our compost.

Accordingly:

• Receipts should be thrown in the trash.
• “Junk mail” should be recycled.
• Also, please throw any “Snotty” Kleenex/facial tissues (as opposed to paper towels, napkins, etc. soiled with food) in the trash.

But what about dead flowers, corn husks, etc.?

Until recently, we were accepting outside of our buckets materials we considered “dry,” including dead/dead-headed flowers, certain types of garden waste, and corn husks.

Unfortunately, our definitions of “wet” and “dry” have proven to be confusing for our subscribers and have needlessly complicated our policies. Accordingly, and as implied earlier, these materials will only be accepted inside of our buckets from this day forward.

So, what can a subscriber expect, going forward, if they provide material to us outside of our buckets, which should be inside of our buckets?

Should we be provided, outside of our buckets, at any time following this announcement, materials other than those identified above as materials we accept outside of our buckets, we reserve the right to refuse said materials/leave said materials on a subscribers property, without further explanation (and it should be noted that it is our intent to do so).

If, for whatever reason, we decide to take said material from a subscribers property, despite it having been provided to us in what we consider to be an unacceptable manner, our taking of said materials should not be interpreted to mean that we have changed the above-mentioned policy or made an exception to it.

On a related note, and importantly, we will no longer be providing weight-based credit (under our Waste Reduction Rewards Program) relative to materials provided to us in non-compliance with the above-mentioned policy (regardless of whether we take said materials or refuse/leave them on a subscribers property).

Should we take from a subscribers property a bag of what we initially believe to be filled with acceptable, dry, “high carbon” materials, which we later determine to be filled with a mix/combination of acceptable materials and materials we only accept inside of our buckets (for example, a pile of garden waste covered with or obscured by newspaper or Fall leaves), we will, likewise, provide no weight-based credit relative to the contents of said bag.

In a nutshell: From this point on, for a subscriber to receive weight-based credit for the weight of the materials they provide to us, the materials must, first, be considered Acceptable by us (meaning they are found on the Acceptable side of our list of Acceptable and Not Acceptable Materials) and, second, be either 1) provided to us inside of our buckets or 2) provided to us inside of the up to (2) bags of dry, “high carbon” materials we accept outside of our buckets.

This means that while we reserve the right to accept bags outside of our buckets in excess of the (2) bag limit described above (as we have sometimes done in the past, if the space in our pickup vehicles permitted us to do so), we will only be providing weight-based credit for the contents of (2) bags per each Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup we perform.

So, what can a subscriber do if they have more waste than can fit in their bucket(s)?

Should any Residential subscriber have more organic waste they would like to provide us than what they can reasonably fit inside our buckets or the (2) bags mentioned above, and should they wish to receive weight-based credit for said waste, they can either purchase a Special, One-Time Swap from us or subscribe to our Add-A-Bucket option at www.GBCompost.com/Residential.

Similarly, should any Small Business subscriber have more organic waste they would like to provide us than what they can reasonably fit inside our buckets or the (2) bags mentioned above, and should they wish to receive weight-based credit for said waste, they can subscribe to our Add-A-Bucket option at www.GBCompost.com/Commercial.

Please note: There is no limit to how many Special, One-Time Swaps a Residential subscriber can purchase or number of times a Residential or Small Business subscriber can subscribe for an extra bucket from us under our Add-A-Bucket options. Also, it should be noted that the Add-A-Bucket options can be canceled at any time.

What if a subscriber doesn’t want to pay extra for us to take their excess organic waste?

If a subscriber does not wish to pay for a Special, One-Time Swap or an Add-a-Bucket subscription (which, it should be noted, supports us/helps us stay in business, grow, and expand), they have a few other options when it comes to what they can do with their excess organic waste:

Assuming the excess waste is considered yard waste by the subscribers Municipality, the subscriber may be able to take said waste to their local yard waste site, free of charge (please note that most Municipalities consider garden waste/refuse to be yard waste).

• Green Bay Yard Waste information: https://greenbaywi.gov/YardWaste
• Allouez Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofallouezwi.gov/depts/public-works/yard-waste-and-waste-oil-drop-off-site/
• Ashwaubenon Yard Waste Information: https://ashwaubenon.gov/government/departments/public-works-streets/yard-waste-disposal/
• Bellevue Yard Waste Information: https://www.villageofbellevuewi.gov/departments/public_works/garbage__recycling___yard_waste/yard_waste
• De Pere Yard Waste Information: https://www.deperewi.gov/topic/index.php?topicid=278&structureid=88
• Hobart Yard Waste Information: https://www.hobart-wi.org/public-works
• Howard Yard Waste Information: http://www.villageofhoward.com/174/Yard-Waste-Removal
• Ledgeview Yard Waste Information: https://www.ledgeviewwisconsin.com/departments/public-works/yard-waste/
• Suamico Yard Waste Information: https://www.suamico.org/departments/public_works_engineering/yard_waste_site.php

Assuming the excess waste is food waste, the subscriber may save the waste for a later bucket by freezing it (such as in a gallon-sized freezer bag), or, if absolutely necessary, dispose of it in the trash (although this is something we do not support doing, for obvious reasons)

Please note: It has been illegal in the State of Wisconsin, since 1993, to dispose of yard waste (including pumpkins, potted plants, etc.) in the trash. For more information, visit https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/287/II/07#:~:text=Beginning%20on%20January%203%2C%201993%2C%20no%20person%20may,waste%20facility%20in%20this%20state.%20%283%29%20Waste%20tires.

If you have any questions or concerns about the above-mentioned policy changes, you may contact us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Until next time, best wishes and happy composting!

New Small Business Compost Pickup Service Just Launched!

Greener Bay Compost is excited to announce that we have just launched a new Small Business Compost Pickup Service to complement our Residential Compost Pickup and Drop-Off Services and provide composting options to businesses that can be served with five gallon buckets and which generally have 50 or fewer employees.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OR SIGN UP FOR THIS NEW SERVICE, CLICK HERE: https://www.gbcompost.com/commercial/

If you have any questions or concerns about this new Service, or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Thank you, as always, for helping us make Green Bay a little greener every day!

New Residential Compost Drop-Off Service Just Launched!

Greener Bay Compost is excited to announce that we have just launched a new Residential Compost Drop-Off Service to complement our longstanding Residential Compost Pickup Service and provide composting options to members of our community who we were previously unable to serve, namely apartment-dwellers and individuals/families who may live just outside of our Residential Compost Pickup Service‘s service area.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OR SIGN UP FOR THIS NEW SERVICE, CLICK HERE: https://www.gbcompost.com/residential/

If you have any questions or concerns about this new Service, or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Thank you, as always, for helping us make Green Bay a little greener every day!

UPDATE: We are discontinuing our 6-Months-Paid-in-Full plans, in favor of Month-to-Month plans only

Effective 8/1/2022, we will be discontinuing our Every-Other-Week, 6-Months-Paid-in-Full version of our Residential Compost Pickup Service and transitioning any subscriber who is on said plan, as of their next renewal date, to our Every-Other-Week, Month-to-Month plan, which is $15.00/month, and, as the name of the plan suggests, billed monthly.

We are making this transition for several reasons:

• To further simplify our business model
• To provide our subscribers more flexibility, in terms of the ease with which they can come and go from our Service (if need be, or perhaps seasonally)
• To help ensure the financial feasibility of our Services

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause anyone. Rest assured, however, that other than our subscription periods being shorter, this transition will change nothing about the high quality of Service you receive from us.

Please note: This transition will, necessarily, result in the elimination of the 10% discount that was built into our 6-Months-Paid-in-Full plan pricing, being that that plan will no longer exist.

If you have any questions or concerns about this transition, or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact.

Thank you, as always, for your support of us and our mission to make Green Bay a little greener every day! Words cannot express how much we appreciate you.

Until next time, best wishes and happy composting!