Down To Earth Home, Garden and Gift might not seem like a likely candidate for commercial compost collection. However, in the fall of 2013 their retail stores and distribution center signed up for the Love Food Not Waste (LFNW) program, fully committing to their company’s sustainability policy. Currently, all Down To Earth employees compost their food scraps at work. After participating in the program for six months, Down To Earth jumped at the chance to sell and distribute bags of LFNW compost back to the community when Rexius started bagging the product.
Now, Down To Earth is taking their participation one step further. This season, Down To Earth will donate a portion of the proceeds of all LFNW compost sales to School Garden Project (SGP), a local nonprofit organization that helps Lane County schools create, sustain, and use onsite gardens by providing resources, professional consultation, and educational programming. SGP currently teaches garden-based science lessons to more than 1,000 students each year in 11 Eugene schools in the 4J and Bethel School Districts. Onsite vegetable gardens at each school, cared for by the students, serve as the outdoor classroom for standards-based science lessons.
Down To Earth sells the compost for $4.49/bag at their two retail locations in Eugene. For more information about this unique partnership, please contact Waste Prevention and Green Building Analyst Stephanie Scafa, 541-682-5652 or stephanie.scafa@ci.eugene.or.us.