Edible Food Finds: City Compost
Photos by Jesika Theos
City Compost is returning the nutrients from Worcester’s kitchen waste back to its soil. This large-scale composting operation offers weekly, bi-weekly and monthly retrieval options for homes and businesses across the region. Finished compost is either returned to the customers or allocated to local farms and community gardens to invest in the future of our soil.
Adam Jankauskas got the idea for City Compost when he was a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At the time, he was hooked on documentaries about food systems, health, agriculture and climate change. “I started to recognize that sustainability and being environmentally conscious was something that was more and more important,” he said.
Jankauskas spent three years working in the technology industry before launching City Compost in 2013. “I recognized that I was at a point in my life where if I didn’t do it then, I really wouldn’t be in a position to do it in the future,” he explained.
He began the company as a $10 on-demand service for two towns: Cambridge and Somerville. “I was working 16-hour days and doing full-day routes combined with farmers markets, follow up, sales, customer management and service issues.”
Three years later, Jankauskas expanded his operation into Central Massachusetts, where he grew up. The move meant no longer scrubbing compost buckets in the basement of his apartment; he soon graduated to a warehouse with 18 employees.
“Truly, to be able to have warm water and a nice place for the team to work on days with inclement weather is a luxury,” Jankauskas said.
Most of City Compost’s work is residential; however, Jankauskas calls the company’s commercial offerings “very unique.” Restaurants are issued containers with secure lids to keep out pests and rodents. “There’s no tipping on-site from large trucks, and there’s no worrying about spills or odor being released during that activity,” he explained.
Materials collected from the Worcester area go straight to the City Compost processing site in Leominster. Compost piles self-insulate, and over time their temperatures climb to between 150° and 160°F, allowing the heat to destroy potentially harmful pathogens like salmonella.
“Putting in things like meat and dairy isn’t a concern when it comes to what can be included in the bucket,” Jankauskas said. “Everything goes in and even products like napkins, chopsticks and toothpicks can be put into the bins.”
Jankauskas manipulates the piles until they reach an optimum ratio of carbon to nitrogen, allowing material to process quickly without runoff or odor. He also monitors moisture, balancing nitrogen-rich “green” materials like kitchen scraps with carbon-rich “brown” material like dry leaves or wood chips. The result is high-quality compost, which will allow clean and healthy food to grow.
The average residential pickup is 10 pounds per week. “It may not sound like much but that adds up to 520 pounds a year,” Jankauskas said. “Every bit of material contains valuable nutrients. It is not waste.”
City Compost currently offers services across Massachusetts and maintains a handful of accounts in Rhode Island. Jankauskas has plans to expand into Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut in the near future.
This story appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of Edible Worcester.
