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Environmentally conscious neighbors now have a way to recycle their food waste and benefit a local school, farm or community garden. The company, which launched on Earth Day 2018, is a Dallas start-up called Turn Compost. It offers residents and commercial customers a way to contribute their organic food waste to the effort of reducing the overall food waste food print in the city.  Each client has a receptacle that is picked up and used to feed animals at local farms or is given back to the earth creating nutrient rich compost.

The USDA says that 30-40 percent of food is wasted, totaling 133 billion pounds and $161 billion. The City of Dallas says that 30 percent of what goes into local landfills is compostable food and yard waste. The EPA says that 21 percent of all trash is food materials.

Founder Lauren Clarke attended a culinary class at El Centro’s Food and Hospitality Institute and hoped to bring the service to residents, businesses and restaurants in East Dallas zip codes 75214, 75206 and 75204. Subscribers put their food waste into Turn’s buckets, which are picked up from homes. Subscriptions also include finished compost and local goods delivered to your door. The only of its kind in the city.

Turn also contracts with commercial businesses like restaurants that want to do more to help the environment. Clarke hopes they will take up the call to go greener. “We are kind of behind the curve relative to some more progressive cities,” she says. But Turn has already made an impact, collecting several tons of food in such a short time.

“We’re passionate about connecting different pieces of the local food cycle and providing a comprehensive service that makes it easy for residents and businesses to do the right thing,” Clarke said.