Many of us want to live more sustainably, but would we be willing to walk miles carrying food waste in the name of community composting? Maybe not.
But committed volunteers have been doing just that to stop food waste in their local area going to landfill or incineration.
It’s the work of a Yorkshire enterprise called Compost-It that started out in 2023 collecting food waste from households and taking it to local growers to be recycled into compost.
Compost-It started life as the idea of four students who entered the West Yorkshire Mayor’s Innovation Prize and won in the 22-26 age group. Two of the students, Husain Alogaily and Simrun Punjabi, decided to turn the dream into reality.
The winning team, with Husain second from left.
A pilot scheme was launched with free weekly food waste collections straight from residents’ doorsteps. Volunteers collected the waste on foot, come rain or shine, using backpacks, strollers and a cart.
Husain cheerfully recalls trudging up and down hills around the city in pouring rain carrying a rucksack full of food waste. Understandably there was great joy when the team managed to crowdfund to get a second-hand electric van. Great Green Systems were among the donors.
Husain admits he is obsessed with soil, perhaps because there wasn’t much of it around when he was growing up in Dubai.
‘People in the UK can’t believe that you can get bored of sand and sun but trust me you can. I really love the rain,’ he says.
That’s just as well now that he’s based in Leeds, where he came to study Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Leeds.
He appreciates that human life is dependent on soil quality, and that redirecting food waste away from landfill and incineration towards circular solutions – composting and anaerobic digestion - is the way forward.
Growing demand
The pilot scheme worked so well that it was expanded. But as demand grew, it became clear that the work needed to be financially sustainable in order to provide the team with a means of earning a living.
‘We realised it would be good if we could afford to eat!’ says Husain.
But the team were adamant they didn’t want to charge households as they wanted the service to be available to everyone.
So Compost-It developed a paid-for service for businesses. While the household food waste is taken to local growers on allotments, regenerative farms and community gardens to be recycled into compost, the business food waste is taken to anaerobic digestion facilities to be turned into biogas and fertiliser.
The Compost-It team knew that in order to grow their business they had to eliminate typical barriers to making sustainable choices – their service had to be affordable and efficient. Reliability is a priority; they operate a multi-stage collection system to ensure waste is never missed and they partner with logistics companies to borrow vehicles if necessary.
Their customers include small businesses such as coffee shops, restaurants, office spaces and care homes, but they also attract large companies too, such as Leeds First Direct Arena, which are impressed by Compost-It’s focus on sustainability and social enterprises.
All types of food waste are collected, including cooked food, meat and dairy, which make up the bulk of most business food waste.
Benefits to businesses include:
· * Compliance with new Simpler Recycling legislation - by the end of this month (March 31st 2025), all businesses with 10 or more full-time employees are obliged to recycle their food waste. By March 2027, the same will apply to all businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees. There will be fines for companies who fail to comply.
· * Cost savings - food waste is heavy and dense so removing this from general waste decreases weight and volume, which reduces collection costs.
· * Reduced carbon footprint - recycling food waste is one of the easiest things businesses can do to significantly reduce their carbon footprint.
The team has come a long way in a short period of time. Thanks to the van, the rucksacks have been retired, and the trusty cart gave up the ghost a long time ago. They also now have staff, so they no longer rely on volunteers pounding the streets.
The business service operates by monthly subscription and bins are provided free of charge. Compost-It currently operates in Leeds, Bradford and Selby, North Yorkshire, but intends eventually to expand nationally.
A great inspiration is hearing about the shift in mindset that happens when people start separating their food waste.
One of the residents in the household scheme says, ‘I never used to think twice about throwing food away in my general waste, but having a separate food waste bin has made me realise just how much we waste every week.’
