SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A young Sioux Falls entrepreneur is working to help manage food waste with his new company, Let’s compost.
From his compost bin to his shredder and his fully electric car — every aspect of Let’s Compost is focused on environmental sustainability.
“I actually just tried to repurpose as much of my materials and supplies as much as possible … down to cleaning supplies and things,” Seth Elkins said.
All to help start a company designed to give a new purpose to trash.
“Turning that waste into something that’s useable again,” Elkins said.
The main goal of the company is to keep all of this food waste out of the landfill, and with just a couple dozen customers since May, Let’s Compost has already saved about 1300 pounds of food from the landfill.
“About half of all the waste that goes to the landfill is actually compostable, whether that be food scraps, cardboard, wood, yard waste, or anything like that,” Elkins said.
It’s something many people may already do in their own homes.
“It’s definitely a dirty job but I love doing it,” Elkins said.
But not everyone has the time or space to take on the job.
“The main customer that we serve are people in apartment complexes or people who have kids, they just don’t have the time or the energy to do the composting themselves, or the space to,” Elkins said.
Let’s Compost offers weekly pickups of different sizes of bins for people who want to separate out their food waste.
“We actually use compost tumbler so they’re elevated off the ground,” Elkins said. “It takes about 3 to 4 weeks for it to go from this to stuff people can use in their gardens and stuff.”
Compost he hopes to have available for sale at farmers markets next season–but a perk available to all Let’s Compost customers.
“We do a ‘pay what you can service,’ that includes free services as well. We just recommend about 20, 25 dollars a month with the four pickups and cleaning and supplies we need to keep it going and supply each customer,” Elkins said. “That allows us to make composting available to everyone.”
He weighs all of the bins he picks up each week to show customers just how much of an impact they’re making by saving their food and cardboard waste from going to the landfill.
