Biggering

Over the past few years we have been Biggering and Biggering. When we first started in 2010 this was exactly what we didn’t want. We wanted to build lots of small facilities close to feedstock and product markets. Over time, we have become the opposite. We have one large facility that processes material from regional locations. Why?

There are a few reasons - mainly regulation, but also equipment costs, and economies of scale. First, while everyone loves composting, no one really wants a processing plant in their backyard. Compost facilities can emit odors (even pleasant odors are odors), create dust, and generate truck traffic. Not awesome things if your kids are running around in the streets. Because of this, the regulatory environment around composting is stringent, difficult to achieve, and onerous. The regulations are in place to protect the environment and help composters create good products, but it doesn’t make it easy.

Secondly, is the cost of equipment. When we were first getting going we needed to buy a screener. Being extremely resource strapped, we searched high and low, but the only thing we could find was a super-used old screener out of California for $50k, which was well beyond our budget. Now the screeners we purchased are $200-300k and not getting cheaper. All of the equipment required to compost and their associated costs drive economies of scale. To compost 10k tons in 10 locations would require 10 suites of equipment. Instead composting 100k tons in one location requires only one suite of the same equipment.

With all of this in mind, we have been hesitant to grow beyond an appropriate scale. Prior to each expansion we have looked at our mission and values to understand why we are growing - is there more demand for compost? Do more generators want to compost their material? Can we improve our product quality while growing? This last question is really what has driven the design and intent in each of our expansions.

In 2018 we added four acres of land and increased our in-floor aeration pad from .5 acres to 2 acres. Biggering, but bettering too. This allowed us to keep material ‘on air’ (that is in a temperature and oxygen controlled environment) for twice as long as previously. As a rule of thumb, one week ‘on air’ is the equivalent to one month without aeration. The added land also allowed us to build an extensive pre-processing system, which has allowed us to better clean and sort material while saving on the gallons of fuel consumed per ton of material processed. Again, biggering, but bettering.

Lastly, this spring we added three acres to the North of our site. This area is to allow us to store and age compost longer. We know that greater fungal populations can grow in compost that sits undisturbed for periods of time. The new acreage will allow for that, as well as to store enough compost to have for the spring planting season. This year we will likely run out (it will be a nail biter). We’re hoping through this last phase of biggering we’ll have more compost, aged longer, at the right time of year.

So, while on the surface we have become what we did not want to be at the outset (a single, large facility), each expansion has occurred with the goal of 1. improving product quality while 2. serving our customers needs. Throughout this process we have also kept an eye on the bigger picture of being a good neighbor, keeping the dust down, and waving to the kids in the street. While our equipment list gets bigger, our parking lot fuller, and our debt sheet longer, we are focused on bettering, not just biggering.

We think our production facility will stay the same size (for now) while we turn our attention to a new prouduct sales location in The Dalles, but more to come on that later...