by DONNA CURRIE
Missouri Organics is truly a family company. Kevin Anderson, the company’s vice president and one of the owners, said that his father, Dave, started the company in 1991 in partnership with another person. The idea behind the company was to recover organic materials that the state of Missouri had just banned from landfills. Since Dave had been working as a chimney sweep, he was particularly interested in the wood that could be sold to his customers as firewood.
In 1993, Dave bought out his partner and “started fiddling with making compost,” Kevin said. At first, the process was very crude, using hand held screeners to sort and remove debris.
When Kevin was in college intent on becoming an airline pilot, his father told him that he needed help at the organics company. Kevin had quite a few years of school left and thought that the new business was interesting, so he left school and joined the business. A year later, Kevin’s brother, Jason, graduated from high school and joined the business as well.
Other family members working for the company include Kevin’s mother, who manages the accounting as well as “several aunts, uncles, and cousins that work with us.” Fortunately, the family works together well and they get along together despite the occasional differences of opinion. “We’re lucky in that respect,” Kevin said.
Missouri Organics works with Kansas City municipal staff to manage residential yard waste from curbside collections, and they also have several drop-off sites that accept materials from both residents and contractors. On weekends, residents can drop off materials for free, and as many as 100 cars might show up. On weekdays, the sites are open to everyone, but a fee is charged.
The company also works with other municipalities, and they also pick up from about 250 customers who produce food waste, including grocery stores, restaurants, and corporate facilities. “We compost just about anything we can get our hands on,” Kevin said.
A new endeavor is the recent purchase of a de-packager that can separate food from its packaging so that the food can be composted and the packaging can be recycled. This machine will process a large variety of packaged foods including spoiled or out of date cartons of milk or yogurt, packages of chips and snack foods, and other packaged products that would normally be landfilled.
Once the organic material has been recovered, metal and plastic will be sent to recyclers and other materials will be sent to a waste-to-energy facility. While some materials might end up in landfills, Kevin said it would be minimal.
Over the years, the company has been focusing more and more on food waste. Kevin explained that yard waste, compost, and mulch are all seasonal products, but “food waste is always available.” Kevin expects to see the trend to reduce food waste to continue, along with the desire to minimize landfill use.
One thing that is helping company growth is that “the Midwest has come alive as far as urban farming.” People are interested in nutrient dense foods, and eating foods that have been grown locally. “We can only take in as much as we can sell,” Kevin said, and the interest in gardening has created more customers for the compost and other materials.
The compost is made on a 15 acre compost pad. Yard waste is first ground and processed, then mixed with food waste and laid out in open windrows. The material is carefully managed as far as the temperature and moisture content, and it is turned regularly so that it composts as quickly as possible. Still, it takes 6-8 weeks to be ready. Then, it needs to be screened to remove debris.
While the company has a handle on how to make compost efficiently, one problem keeps arising – contamination. “You have to find a way to educate people,” Kevin said. Otherwise, plastic bags, straws, and other contaminants end up in the food waste and need to be sorted out of the compost. No one wants to see plastic utensils in their garden.
Besides selling standard compost, the company also makes special mixes, including one that is designed for use on rooftop gardens. The finished mix weighs about the same whether it is wet or dry, so it won’t be too heavy for the roofs to support.
While rooftop gardens might seem like a luxury item, they are a good solution for storm water control. When the rooftop gardens capture rainwater, it minimizes runoff.
While it’s illegal to send organic materials to landfills in Missouri, it’s legal in Kansas, so compostable materials often cross the state line since landfill fees are often comparable to the cost of dropping them off for composting. Since Missouri Organics is close to the state line, this sometimes affects their ability to bring in materials.
On the sales side, local homeowners are most interested in the mulches because that’s a change they can see, but Kevin said that compost could help them grow better lawns and gardens. Contractors already know the benefits, but homeowners may need to learn more about that.
Kevin explained that adding compost in the fall means less fertilizer in the spring, and after a few years of adding compost, fertilizer is no longer needed. An added benefit is that the soil will absorb and retain water better, so less watering is required. And that improvement comes from a product that was originally considered unwanted waste material. “Ultimately,” Kevin said, “it’s nice to come to work and know you’re doing something positive. It’s a feel-good type of work.”
Published in the June 2018 Edition