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Date: 7/19/2023
LUDLOW — Matt Gilman and Steve DeMont are two friends who started Commonwealth Sustainability a little over a year ago and are looking to help businesses and residents put their food scraps to good use.
Their business is a food scrap and organic waste management service.
They view food waste and other organic materials as a resource that can be given back to the earth for composting, which will ultimately help the environment.
Gilman said, “When people mention climate change or doing something good for the environment, sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. You think of big the earth is and how many people there are, and I think when you compost, it’s a fairly small step but knowing that we are making a difference in our immediate area has been great.”
Composting is a form of waste recycling in which organic materials are broken down into nutrient rich soil.
“It is another form of recycling,” DeMont said. “It also helps to reduce greenhouse gases like methane from landfills in the air. You can also reuse it, turn it into compost and make it into the soil, which is good for soil health, grow healthier food. It’s good for the earth all around.”
Their mission is to educate and empower communities to make positive environmental choices to create a more sustainable future.
They offer their services to different types of places within a community including educational, residential and commercial buildings along with municipalities and specific events.
DeMont and Gilman work on ways to educate the students in schools or at Boys and Girls Clubs on their waste and how to be mindful of it.
They said they currently work with different businesses, organizations and residents in Belchertown, East Longmeadow and Ludlow.
They also partner with businesses and residents and raffle a gift card each month to its members to stimulate more business for the restaurants and local shops.
DeMont said, “I feel like its sustainable economically as well. We are trying to help out residents to learn new places, businesses to get more customers or more patrons. We believe in not just the earth but also business as well and economically help them.”
According to their website, food is the No. 1 wasted organic material in the U.S. making up 22% of material thrown into landfills and the United States wastes more food than any other country in the world with 80 billion pounds of food wasted per year.
The average family of four throws away about $1600 per year in produce.
The idea for the business started with Gilman complaining about his garden.
“I was in my backyard doing some gardening and as a first-time gardener, my garden kind of sucked. I didn’t get a lot of good yield out of it so I did a little research to see what I can do better. I stumbled upon soil health was a big thing and that snowballed into compost and then I found you could compost food waste,” Gilman said.
Gilman and DeMont have been friends since college and after Gilman talked to DeMont about his composting ideas, they thought it be a great idea to start a food waste curbside pickup service.
Those looking to sign up can or learn more can visit www.commonwealthsustainabilityma.com.
After sign-up, you will get an email with information with what is compostable and what is not.
You also get a welcome kit that includes a bucket with a liner in it and a storage container to put the food scraps in.
Commonwealth Sustainability will either come once a week or every other week to pickup the food scraps to dump.
“I think once people start doing it, they realize how it easy it is. We make it very affordable to any who wants to sign up for our service,” Gilman added.
DeMont added you can also check out Commonwealth Sustainability on social media to become educated on reducing food waste and reusing organic materials.
Right now, DeMont and Gilman travel to WeCare Denali in Ellington, Connecticut, where they take a lot of yard waste to compost.
Gilman explained, “In order to make compost you need roughly a three to one carbon to nitrogen ingredient ratio. Nitrogen waste materials which is the food waste which is what we provide and then they provide the carbon heavy materials. You put that together, you turn it, the piles heat up, the materials break down and you are left with a nice healthy soil and compost at the end.”
For those who sign up, after you are a member for six months you receive two cubic feet of compost back for your garden and after one year you get about four cubic feet of compost.
“The nice thing is that it is sort of like a full circle effect, we are taking your food waste and then we are going to deliver you the finished product at the end,” Gilman added.
Even though DeMont and Gilman travel to Connecticut to dispose of the food waste, they are looking to find a place locally to continue their business.
Gilman said, “We are also working with a local farm in the area to compost a little bit more local than going down to Ellington. Our goal is by the end of the summer, maybe halfway through fall we actually will be able to make some of the compost ourselves.”