'Because A Rind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste'

Composting needs a corporate hero


November 4, 2010
By: Director of Insight, Karen Barnes

Here’s a big idea – free for the taking. Solar’s got big corporate heroes. Recycling’s got big corporate heroes. Heck, even backyard farming’s got a corporate hero. Isn’t it time someone got behind composting?

SunChips tried with its bag, but we all know how that story ended. The noisy design wound up in the proverbial trash heap.

Consumers want packaging and products that are biodegradable. In our Green Living Pulse study this year, biodegradable packaging was considered “the best thing to read on a package” by 29% of Americans. But the truth is, very few Americans compost – in fact, a recent Harris poll found that fewer than 1 in 5 are composting. People don’t know how, they don’t have the right equipment,they don’t know what to do with the compost. They don’t even have a way to compost the biodegradable products and packaging that are in the marketplace now. So here’s where a progressive company can step in and fill an unmet consumer need. Maybe it’s a paper products company. Maybe it’s a food manufacturer. Maybe it’s your company.

Start giving away composters. Start showing people how to build their own composters. The space is there for the taking. It’s there for a willing company to own.

Americans generate more than 250 million tons of trash each year, according to the EPA, and less than a third of that is composted or recycled. That’s a big opportunity.

If your company’s looking for a way to connect with a sustainable behavior that hasn’t been “claimed” yet, consider composting. It needs a hero.

Who’s in?