Waste Farmers: Making Money From Other People’s Trash

Subscribing to the Cradle to Cradle philosophy, Denver based Waste Farmers works with metro area restaurants to decrease the matter they send to the landfill. With a national client list that includes Denver-based Chipotle as well as independent schools in the area, Waste Farmers picks up organic material from clients and composts the waste.

According to their website, “Waste Farmers offers the next generation of resource management, bio-based renewable energy, sustainable agricultural production, greenhouse gas mitigation, and innovative recycling, composting, and waste reduction services. We reintegrate urban “waste” nutrients with agricultural and energy production in an effort to maximize the value of the items we collect and cultivate the communities we serve.” By taking materials that would otherwise end up in the landfill and serve no viable purpose going forward, Waste Farmers closes the loop by making these nutrients available for the regenerative economy.

The company began small, with less than $10,000 and a single pickup truck. Now they are one of three finalists for the Green Business of the Year in Denver. “[F]ounded on the belief that waste in all forms, whether physical discards, energy, water, people, or any other resource is a sign of inefficiency,” Waste Farmers uses various forms of waste to “enrich the community by rebuilding soils, generating renewable energy, ensuring a sustainable food supply, reintroducing the feedstock and life-force of industry, and repairing some of the unintended consequences of progress.”

Waste Farmers and 2nd Green Revolution believe that companies can have a beneficial impact on society and the environment while being economically viable. In fact, in order for them to be truly sustainable, they must be exactly that. Companies that hope to compete in the regenerative economy cannot rest on their eco-credentials. They must provide an economic benefit, as well as the environmental benefits. If the three legged stool of sustainability is to stay standing, all three components (social, environmental, economical) must be in tact.

- Eric Wilson

[Image source: WasteFarmers]