Organic Waste Transformed Into a Community Resource

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Closing the loop at the new Crafty Kids Community Garden located at 404 E. Broad Rock Road

The objective is to close the loop of the local food cycle making yesterday’s food scraps tomorrow’s food source.

Richmond, Virginia (PRWEB) July 18, 2014

How do you take organic waste from local businesses and turn it into a resource for the community? Introducing: The Compost Credit Program. Natural Organic Process Enterprises (NOPE) a newly Certified B Corp, has a plan to quite literally make one group of peoples’ trash another group of peoples’ treasure. NOPE was started in 2009 and was formed to provide collection and environmental consultation services to companies and institutions who want to include organic recycling, or composting as it is more commonly known as, in their sustainability efforts.

The Compost Credit Program was started as a new perk for NOPE’s clients where compost is returned for use in sustainable applications such as gardening and landscaping. The way the program works is that for every ton (2000 lbs.) of compostable material collected by NOPE, a Compost Credit is issued. Each of these “Compost Credits” which accrue with time, can be redeemed for 40 lbs. of locally produced, nutrient rich compost. NOPE also encourages and coordinates donation of these credits to local area agricultural non profits.

Many of NOPE’s clients have found that they will have a surplus of these credits. “The Hilton Garden Inn Richmond Downtown was the first of our clients to commit their Compost Credits to the nonprofit Enrichmond Foundation” says Marshall Hall, Co-owner at NOPE. He continues, “The objective is to close the loop of the local food cycle making yesterday’s food scraps tomorrow’s food source." The donated compost went to jump start two different community gardens that are part of Enrichmond’s ‘Richmond Grows Gardens’ Program. To make even more of a local impact, the amount of donated compost was generously matched by locally owned Watkins Nurseries for a total of 14 cubic yards or about 7 tons of donated compost. Healthy soil makes healthy food which helps lead to healthy people. For more info on NOPE check out their webpage at http://www.nopeva.com and see more pics of them closing the loop on their Facebook page.

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