Effective 6/1/22: Changes to our policy on extra wet waste/materials provided outside of our buckets

We hope you are staying cool today and enjoying all the pretty butterflies and the bees buzzing around all the beautiful flowers that are just beginning to bloom!

As indicated in the announcements we’ve made over the past two days, if you are a subscriber to our Curbside Compost Pickup Service, you will be directly affected by some major policy and program changes we will be making between now and this coming Sunday (5/15/22), all of which will be effective 6/1/22 (a Wednesday).

As stated previously, for the sake of not overwhelming you with too much information in any one announcement, we have opted to divide our announcements into a series of announcements: One which was made two days ago, one yesterday, one today (5/14), and one tomorrow (5/15), with the announcements becoming progressively more impactful with each day.

Again, we are making these changes to our policies and programs for several reasons:

1. To streamline/simplify our business
2. To aid our productivity/increase our efficiency
3. To maximize our profitability/ensure our survival as a business
4. To prepare for our near-term future, which will see our business split essentially evenly between our existing Curbside Compost Pickup Service and what will soon be our Compost Sales
5. To prepare for our longer-term future, which may see us partner with Municipalities (such as the City of Green Bay) on “food waste pilot programs,” potentially as soon as 2023

Today, we have a somewhat major announcement to make (only somewhat major, in that we believe it will only affect a small portion of our subscribers, and perhaps only occasionally), which is that, effective 6/1/22, we will no longer accept any wet waste/materials provided to us outside of our buckets, regardless of what kind of bag, box, or container it/they may be provided in.

Historically, if our subscribers had more wet waste/materials than could reasonably fit in their Greener Bay Compost buckets, we would allow our subscribers to put this extra waste inside of unscented plastic bags, tied shut, and set said bags out for us on their scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, beside their buckets.

Effective 6/1/22, we will no longer be allowing this, and if any such bags are left beside our buckets, they will be left at our subscribers residences, without explanation.

Please note: We define “wet waste/materials” as waste or materials that are wet to the touch or moist to the point that, if they were to be squeezed or left to sit anywhere for any period of time, that liquid would leak from them, as well as waste or materials that are nitrogen-rich/prone to emit “offensive odors” as they rot. Generally speaking, all food scraps are considered “wet.”

Accordingly, much of the food waste we commonly receive, such as banana peels, avocados, citrus fruits, potato peels, watermelon rinds, lettuce, etc. are considered wet, as are the animal droppings we consider acceptable (such as those from chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc.). As such, these materials should never be provided to us outside of our buckets, as of 6/1/22.

We are making the change detailed above for two very important reasons:

1. To prevent wet waste/materials from potentially spilling outside of bags and into our pickup vehicle (thus creating a mess we would then need to clean up) and to prevent potentially “offensive odors” emanating from such waste/materials from making our drivers routes unpleasant or intolerable.
2. To protect our subscribers (and Greener Bay Compost, by proxy) from potential municipal ordinance violations relative to, but not necessarily limited to, rat/rodent infestation and “offensive odor” complaints from neighbors.

On a related note, relative to “offensive odor” control, please make sure to snap your bucket lids on tight when/if you put them outside, so as to avoid attracting rats, rodents, or other pests, as well as to prevent potentially “offensive odors” from wafting through your neighborhood.

We were recently informed by one of our subscribers that because they hadn’t snapped their bucket lid on tight, a raccoon got inside their bucket and made quite a mess for them. We, of course, do not want this to happen to anyone else.

Now, you may be asking yourself a very good question right now, which is “If Greener Bay Compost will no longer let me put extra wet waste out for them inside of bags, then what should I do if I produce more wet waste than I can fit in my bucket?”

We have a couple suggestions for you:

1. Consider signing up for our Add-a-Bucket option, which enables you to receive not one, but two buckets from us on each of your scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days, for only $10.00 extra per month (which you can cancel at any time, if you decide you no longer need the extra bucket).
2. Consider using our Special, One-Time Bucket Swap option, on an as-needed basis, for a one-time charge of just $5.00, to make arrangements with us for us to meet you at a public location in the middle of our service area (typically the old Sears parking lot on Military Avenue, in west Green Bay) to perform an extra Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup for you, on days we’re not already scheduled to perform one for you on.
3. Save your extra wet waste/materials for inclusion in a later bucket, potentially by placing it inside a plastic bag or container of some sort and freezing it (with this, of course, being the least expensive option).

Our next announcement will be tomorrow. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact. We are always here to help and look forward to continuing to serve you in the months (and hopefully years) ahead!

Effective 6/1/22: Changes to our policy on extra dry materials provided outside of/beside our buckets

We hope you are enjoying the unseasonably warm weather we are all experiencing this weekend, and staying cool and safe, wherever you are!

As indicated in the announcement we made yesterday, if you are a subscriber to our Curbside Compost Pickup Service, you will be directly affected by some major policy and program changes we will be making between now and this coming Sunday (5/15/22), all of which will be effective 6/1/22 (a Wednesday).

As stated previously, for the sake of not overwhelming you with too much information in any one announcement, we have opted to divided our announcements into a series of announcements: One yesterday, this one today, one tomorrow (5/14), and one this coming Sunday (5/15), with the announcements becoming progressively more impactful with each day.

Again, we are making these changes to our policies and programs for several reasons:

1. To streamline/simplify our business
2. To aid our productivity/increase our efficiency
3. To maximize our profitability/ensure our survival as a business
4. To prepare for our near-term future, which will see our business split essentially evenly between our existing Curbside Compost Pickup Service and what will soon be our Compost Sales
5. To prepare for our longer-term future, which may see us partner with Municipalities (such as the City of Green Bay) on “food waste pilot programs,” potentially as soon as 2023

Today, we have a semi-major announcement to make (only semi-major, in that we believe it will only affect a very small number of our subscribers), which is that, effective 6/1/22, we will:

1. Accept a maximum of (2) extra bags (made of either paper or unscented plastic, and no larger than a traditional paper grocery store bag) of dry materials outside of/beside our buckets
2. No longer except unbroken-down boxes (including those from Misfits Market, Hello Fresh, etc.), unless they can fit inside of the above-mentioned acceptable bags, with the exception of pizza boxes (which we are making an exception for, due to how easy they are to accommodate in our pickup vehicle(s))
3. No longer accept loose dry materials placed outside of/beside our buckets, including, but not limited to, cut sheets or pieces of cardboard (regardless of size or shape), again, with the exception of pizza boxes

The three changes above can and should be interpreted as a ban on bags larger than traditional grocery store bags (including large yard waste/leaf bags and trash bags greater than 13-gallon), nearly all unbroken-down boxes, and all other items not provided to us either inside of our buckets or inside the type of bags we will be accepting as of 6/1/22 (with, of course, the exception of pizza boxes), that is, unless:

• We have provided a one-time, written exception to this policy to a subscriber who has requested one
• We have provided a blanket exception to all subscribers, for in the event that we run a special pickup event/drive for large amounts of dry materials (which would typically occur on days we are not scheduled to perform our regular Bucket Swap/Compost Pickups)

Please note: We define “dry materials” as materials that are dry to the touch and generally sanitary/not prone to “offensive odors,” such as plain/matte paper and cardboard (including soiled pizza boxes and used paper towels/napkins), fall leaves, dead flowers, and ashes/sawdust/planer shavings from clean, untreated wood. Generally speaking, all food scraps are considered “wet,” not dry, and should never be placed inside paper bags for us, as they may rot through the bottoms of such bags quickly and create a potential mess inside our pickup vehicle(s). If we find that otherwise acceptable paper bags have been filled with any “wet” waste, such as food scraps, we reserve the right to leave such bags at our subscribers residences.

Please be aware that any materials mixed with Acceptable animal droppings (such as those from chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc.) will not be considered “dry,” effective 6/1/22, and will only be allowed to be provided to us inside our buckets (due, in large part, to the potentially “offensive odors” that may emanate from them, as well as their generally unsanitary nature). More information will be provided in our announcement tomorrow with regards to how we intend to handle such materials, effective 6/1/22.

So what will happen, on or after 6/1/22, if more bags than we can accept, unbroken-down boxes outside of bags, or loose materials are left outside of/beside our buckets?

Effective 6/1/22, if we find that more than (2) acceptable bags of extra dry materials have been placed outside of/beside any of our buckets as we are performing a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup, we may, at our sole discretion, make a one-time exception to our (2)-bag limit, assuming we can reasonably fit all identified bags inside our pickup vehicle, however, we reserve the right to leave any such bags numbering beyond (2) at our subscribers residences, without explanation.

Furthermore, and similarly, effective 6/1/22, any unbroken-down boxes or loose materials (not including pizza boxes) provided to us outside of the aforementioned acceptable bags or our buckets will be left at our subscribers residences, also without explanation.

DISCLAIMER: With regard to all dry materials, whether provided inside or outside of/beside our buckets, it will still be a requirement, going forward, that subscribers remove all Not Acceptable materials, such as tape, stickers, stamps, staples, plastic, etc. from such materials, before providing them to us. Failure to remove such Not Acceptable materials from dry materials provided to us may result in subscribers not receiving full credit for the contents of their buckets/extra materials and losing out on potential benefits under current or future Rewards programs.

Our next announcement will be tomorrow. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact. We are always here to help and look forward to continuing to serve you in the months (and hopefully years) ahead!

Major policy and program changes to be announced over the next three days

First things first, we hope you and your loved ones are having a wonderful day and an amazing start to Spring!

If you are a subscriber to our Curbside Compost Pickup Service, you will be directly affected by some major policy and program changes we will be making over the next three days, one of which will be effective immediately and the other three of which will be effective 6/1/22 (a Wednesday).

For the sake of not overwhelming you with too much information in any one announcement, we will dividing our announcements into a series of announcements over the next three days: One today, one tomorrow (5/13), one this Saturday (5/14), and one this Sunday (5/15), with the announcements becoming progressively more impactful with each day.

We are making the aforementioned changes to our policies and programs for several reasons:

1. To streamline/simplify our business
2. To aid our productivity/increase our efficiency
3. To maximize our profitability/ensure our survival as a business
4. To prepare for our near-term future, which will see our business split essentially evenly between our existing Curbside Compost Pickup Service and what will soon be our Compost Sales
5. To prepare for our longer-term future, which may see us partner with Municipalities (such as the City of Green Bay) on “food waste pilot programs,” potentially as soon as 2023

Today, we have a relatively minor announcement to make, which is that, effective immediately (and thus affecting all Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups hereafter), we will no longer be sending post-Swap/post-Pickup “confirmation emails,” such as many of our subscribers have become accustomed to, following successful Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups, to advise subscribers that their Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups have been completed successfully.

The only exception to the above will be for new subscribers who will continue to receive an email from us after we have successfully delivered their first compost bucket to them, to provide them with all the information they need to get started with us.

The primary reason we are making this change is that we have not received much feedback from our subscribers to suggest that they find these post-Swap/post-Pickup “confirmation emails” to be useful or necessary. Secondly, it takes us quite a bit of time to set up said emails, attach photos to them in the middle of our Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup routes, and to send them. Finally, because of spotty Internet connectivity during our Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup routes, these emails cannot be sent, in the majority of cases, until hours after we have already completed our Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups, which defeats their purpose to some extent.

Please note: We will continue to take photos of the buckets we are swapping, at the time our Bucket Swaps/Compost Pickups are completed, for record-keeping purposes.

Our next announcement will be tomorrow. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact. We are always here to help and look forward to continuing to serve you in the months (and hopefully years) ahead!

UPDATE: We are discontinuing our Weekly Curbside Compost Pickup Service plans

After much thoughtful consideration, we have decided to cease offering our Weekly Curbside Compost Pickup Service plans to new subscribers, effective immediately, and to discontinue offering the same to existing subscribers on such plans as soon as possible.

Please note that we will continue to offer two Every-Other-Week plans (a Month-to-Month version, as well as a discounted, 6–Months–Paid–in–Full version), in addition to an “Add a Bucket” option for an extra $10/month (which requires a separate subscription) and a “Special, One-Time Pickup” service for a one-time charge of $7.50, for the sake of providing flexibility to our subscribers whose households may produce more waste each week than an average household.

We have a few reasons for discontinuing our Weekly plans:

1. Out of the (118) subscribers we now serve, only (10) are on our Weekly plans, which means the demand for our Weekly plans is extremely low.
2. Out of the (10) subscribers we currently have on Weekly plans (including your household), we have determined that only about 20% of these subscribers actually need to be on something like a Weekly plan, based on the average poundage of the buckets we pick up from them each week, which means they are paying for more pickups than they really need.
3. Us transitioning to only doing Every-Other-Week pickups will help make our routes shorter and more efficient (thus saving us both time and money), as well as pave the way for us to make further changes to our routes in late summer of 2022, so that we will no longer be driving routes every week (as we’ve been doing since our inception in August 2021), but rather every other week (which will massively improve the Work/Life Balance of our team members).

So what does all of this mean for you?

Any subscribers whose Weekly, 6–Months–Paid–in–Full plans were, until today, set to automatically renew at $162/every six months will, instead, automatically transition to an Every-Other-Week, 6–Months–Paid–in–Full plan at $81/every six months on their next renewal date.

If you are a subscriber who feels that a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup performed for you just once every other week is not sufficient to account for the amount of waste your household produces each week, then please now that there are a couple options we have to offer to help you work around this concern.

First, you could consider signing up for our “Add a Bucket” option, in conjunction with your new, Every-Other-Week plan plan, which would see you receive not one, but two Greener Bay Compost buckets on each of your scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days.

The nice thing about the above option is you can cancel at any time, if, for any reason, you determine or realize that your household does not produce enough waste each week to justify two buckets.

Second, you could pay a one-time charge of $7.50 for a “Special, One-Time Pickup” of your Greener Bay Compost bucket (which, of course, includes a Bucket Swap) on a week when you would otherwise not be having a Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup performed for you, on an as-needed basis.

Finally, you could simply do like many of our subscribers do (and which we do allow them to do, by the way), for in the event that your household produces more waste than you can comfortably or reasonably fit in a single Greener Bay Compost bucket, and put any extra dry waste (such as paper, cardboard, etc.) you may have in a separate paper bag or unscented plastic bag beside your bucket, or any extra wet waste (such as food scraps, coffee grounds, etc.) you may have in a separate, unscented plastic bag beside your bucket, or both on your scheduled Bucket Swap/Compost Pickup days.

Please note: We don’t have any limit on how many extra “dry” or “wet” bags you can set beside your buckets.

If you need to discuss the above options with us in more detail, or if you have any questions or concerns about this update in general, you are welcome (and encouraged) to contact us using any of the contact methods available at www.GBCompost.com/Contact, otherwise you will simply be transitioned to the Every-Other-Week version of our plans which is closest to the plan you are currently on, as soon as your current plan expires, as indicated earlier.

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

Greener Bay Compost name-dropped by Green Bay Sustainability Commission as potential Green Bay City Partner for Food Waste Prevention Program

Greener Bay Compost was name-dropped during the City of Green Bay‘s April 19th, 2022 Common Council meeting by the Green Bay Sustainability Commission‘s Mark Walter as a potential partner for the City with regard to a proposed city-wide Food Waste Prevention Program.

This meeting may be viewed in full by clicking https://youtu.be/rheFqAxGHps, or by watching the video embedded below:

If you would like to watch the part of the meeting where Mark Walter discusses the City’s Waste Reduction goals, you can do so on YouTube at 42 minutes into the video (with the segment running until 46:10 in) by clicking https://youtu.be/rheFqAxGHps?t=2520, or by watching the video embedded below:

If you’d like to skip ahead to the part where Mark Walter discusses Greener Bay Compost specifically, as well as some other potential partners, you can do so on YouTube at 45 minutes and 19 seconds into the video by clicking https://youtu.be/rheFqAxGHps?t=2719, or by watching the video embedded below: