If something doesn’t change soon, the state’s only landfill in Johnston will reach capacity by 2034, forcing lawmakers to choose from a number of difficult or expensive alternatives.
University of Rhode Island graduates Miguel Costa and Connor MacManus are hoping to avoid this situation and extend the life of the landfill with their new startup Rhodeside Revival, a curbside composting program that turns people’s food scraps into compost.
The company provides households with specially lined, leak-proof buckets that people can put their food scraps in, which are anything made from the earth including fruits, vegetables, paper, napkins, bones and meats.
“We have been able to make ends meet, but as we grow, we are going to get some help and create some jobs."
Costa and MacManus then take the buckets to Charlestown-based Earth Care Farm, which turn the scraps into compost. That compost is either returned to families or can be donated to local schools, farms or even the state’s parks and recreation department.
“There has been a lot of talk of creating ways to divert waste from our landfill, which is filling up fairly quickly,” said Costa, who is also a full-time teacher. “Let’s try to make a difference.”
The company launched in June when Costa and MacManus, who both started a composting club back in college, purchased a few buckets and began advertising.
Since then, Rhodeside Revival has signed up 75 households and will soon start providing services to a condo building with 30 units. The company has also received a grant from Clean Ocean Access to help with a composting initiative in Newport and Middletown.
Customers can receive weekly pickups for $25 per month or get bi-weekly pickups for $18 per month. Twice a year, Rhodeside Revival retrieves the compost and delivers it to its customers so they can use it in their gardens or donate it to a local organization.
The service is a huge help to the current situation in Rhode Island because composted scraps do not end up in the Central Landfill in Johnston. According to Rhodeside Revival’s website, 3,800 tons of trash are buried in the Central Landfill every day, yet 40 percent of the average family’s trash is compostable.
Currently, Costa and MacManus are handling the labor themselves, with Costa doing pickups and deliveries in the Providence and Barrington areas and MacManus handling the South County and Jamestown areas.
“We have been able to make ends meet, but as we grow, we are going to get some help and create some jobs,” said Costa.
The company’s five year goal is to service 2,000 to 3,000 homes in the state as well as small businesses. Costa said the overall goal is to one day service every home in the Ocean State, or at least as many as possible.
“The idea is to keep everything from Rhode Island to Rhode Island, trying to focus on helping our state,” he said. “It’s doable and we are focused.”
