Local market makes old produce into rich compost

2005 Archived News

Krispy Kreme has its "Hot" doughnuts sign but Bernie and Boys in Burien has its "compost." sign.

The "free compost" sign lets people know the compost is cooked and ready for gardening. The compost is made from expired produce that would otherwise be thrown away, but Bernie and Boys owner Joe Salle participates in King County's food waste pilot program and now cooks his old produce into rich compost that is prized by area gardeners.

Joe was spurred to sign-up for the pilot program by his teenage daughter, a burgeoning environmentalist who put recycling bins throughout their house. Before he had the composter, Joe ground up the old produce and disposed of it through the sewer. Since the composter was installed September 30, 2003 Joe has made over 3,500 pounds of old produce into rich compost.

Bernie and Boys customers have come to relish the compost. They pull their cars or trucks up to the back of the store and load up the compost. Joe himself can attest to its quality. He uses it on his own garden and besides the occasional volunteer squash or tomato plant, the compost works great.

"Last year we got a squash plant and a tomato plant from seeds that didn't compost," said Joe. "Other than that, our garden flourishes with this compost."

Bernie and Boys, a local market with fresh produce and a butcher counter, has become somewhat of a local nexus for sustainable living. For compost bulking agent Joe uses wood chips he gets from the historic molding mill down the street. It's his dream that someday the vacant lot behind the store will be turned into a community garden fertilized with his compost and he's looking into getting Rainier Brewery casks to collect rainwater that can be used to flush toilets and irrigate.

Bernie and Boys is one of 14 businesses and schools helping the King County Solid Waste Division assess the feasibility of small-scale, on-site, food waste composting through this pilot program. Partially funded by a 2003 grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology, the program is testing several different composting systems, including the Earth Tub (manufactured by Green Mountain Technologies) and the BioStack (manufactured by BioSystem Solutions).

Currently, food waste accounts for 14.6 percent of King County's total waste stream. King County is also running a pilot program to collect residential food waste and plans to add a second pilot program in 2005 to collect commercial food waste.

For more information about this program, contact Kinley Deller at 206-296-4434.