Purple Cow Organics Hosts Compost Facility Tour for County Executive
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USCC Member Purple Cow Organics recently held a tour of their Madison, Wisconsin facility for Dane County Executive Melissa Agard.
Purple Cow manages four compost facilities across Wisconsin, with three located in Dane County and one in Waukesha County. They compost leaf and yard waste at their facility, as well as food waste that is collected from businesses and from residential food waste drop-off locations that are run through a partnership with Dane County. The compost generated at Purple Cow is used to create their soil products, which are sold for use by organic farmers, stormwater management projects, private residents in retail garden centers, and landscapers.
The Dane County residential collection program had 1,000 sign-ups in its first month of operation. Jerod Reuter, COO of Purple Cow, said, “Executive Agard was excited to see how the new food waste diversion program is working and the difference it is making in the community and towards Dane County’s climate goals.” Bringing Executive Agard onto their composting facility to learn, ask questions, and propose new ideas strengthened the public-private partnership between Purple Cow and Dane County, setting the stage for future growth of the program.
Touring local legislators and executives is a crucial strategy for establishing relationships and growing public-private partnerships between composting operations and municipalities or counties. Reuter says, “Providing tours to local elected officials can also help build support for future growth of food waste diversion programs. Education around compost is important because it is not a commonly known process to the public. Demonstrating to these partners what type of operation we run and what it takes to do that is important for the relationship.”
If your composting operation is interested in setting up a legislative tour, you can visit USCC’s Compost Tours page, which has a step-by-step guide as well as an inquiry form through which you can receive assistance directly from USCC staff.
Photo credit to Purple Cow Organics.
