Specialty Food Magazine

WINTER 2014

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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R ay Leard, owner of Purely American in Athens, Ohio, has always believed in eco-friendly ventures. While growing his food business over the past 25 years, he has been diligent about sustainable practices, from using only cornstarch-based packing materials to becoming certified to blend product mixes organically in the factory. But his biggest venture came just last year, when he saw a dream to fruition in launching The Compost Exchange, giving the entire community a way to benefit the environment. "The idea is to incentivize residents, businesses, government bodies and educators to all work together to achieve a common goal—zero waste in Athens, Ohio," Leard says. "In our first nine months, we have collected close to 1,000 tons of food waste, yard waste and horse manure." With only five employees at Purely American, Leard runs TCE with similarly slim resources: he has one full-time employee, while spending about 20 hours a week on it himself. The concept… In January 2013, Leard and his team opened the doors to what would be the first EPA-licensed Class II compost facility in Southeast Ohio that can accept food waste, chemical-free yard waste and manures. TCE uses a method called Aerated Static Pile, or ASP, a composting system that biodegrades organic material without having to physically manipulate the waste during primary composting; agitation occurs only when piles are combined or moved to a different area for curing. They have a smaller footprint, faster process time and better odor control compared with static or traditional windrow compost systems. The new business has diverted tons of organic waste from landfills and turned it into valuable, locally produced natural resources. Waste has been converted into products such as premium compost, premium mulch and TCE-branded Garden Soil, Turf Blend and Rain Garden Blend. These products are a primary financial stream for sustaining the business. Membership… Area residents can become members with fees ranging from nothing for drop-off at a specific facility to $10 a month for biweekly residential food and yard waste pickup. There are dropoff locations at the Athens Farmers Market and at major employer In its frst nine months, The Compost Exchange has collected nearly 1,000 tons of food waste. and commuter locations. TCE members receive discounts at local businesses with a "My Compost Rewards" card, a benefit that can end up paying for the cost of the service over the year. Discounts include reduced prices on purchases of the many types of bean soup mixes made at Leard's 11,000-square-foot soup factory, which sits right next to the composting facility. Each member also receives two complimentary 5-gallon buckets of compost each year, popular for use in home gardens and flower beds. COMPANY STATS PURELY AMERICAN Athens, OH purelyamerican.com Year founded: 1988 Products: Farmstand Soup Co. (organic dinner kits), Urban Pantry Essentials (blends of organic beans, lentils and split peas), Purely American Mixes (bean soup mixes, stew mixes and pasta mixes) and Cholent, a line of kosher slow-cooker meals in Middle Moroccan Eastern lamb, lentil, rosemary chicken and savory beef. Commercial services… TCE offers commercial and restaurant waste pickup—some of which Leard does himself six days a week— as well as zero-waste event management, composting workshops and raised beds. The business even takes waste from the local government, Leard says. "There was a big storm and the town brought all of the downed trees to us, amounting to a couple loads every day," he recalls. Biggest challenges… Early success has been a welcome challenge. Leard says TCE already needs more space. "We are in talks now to increase our initial building size by 50 percent, but it all depends on a lot of politics, like will the city provide collections and so forth," he explains. Creating and maintaining a business model that incentivizes stakeholders in the region of 10 sparsely populated counties to work together to get closer to achieving zero waste has been another challenge. "Thirty-five percent of the waste stream is recyclable organic—that's a big number," Leard says. "The problem is that cities don't have money to build infrastructure to collect organics." Creating a new way of composting that involves the whole community has been a lofty goal overall, but Leard is glad he made the effort. "It's just the right thing to do," he asserts. "Someone has to do it to prove it can work, that it's functionally and financially a good business model. I'm that person." Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. WINTER 2014 115

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