Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan and Barry Paull.
Susan and Barry, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Barry: Our son, David Paull, started a community composting business called Compostwheels in Atlanta in 2012. He grew Compostwheels’ membership by spreading the word at farmer’s markets throughout Atlanta during the summer of 2012. As interest and membership increased, David realized he would need help servicing the members because he was a full-time student at SCAD Atlanta. He put a call out to me, his dad, and asked me to help out. From there, the business kept growing. Two years later, his mom, Susan, joined the company too!
In 2017, Compostwheels merged with CompostNow, another like-minded community composting company based out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Fast forward to today, we now offer residential and commercial composting services in the Triangle and Asheville, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.
And yes, the whole family is still actively involved in the company today! Susan and I work as Member Experience Representatives, and David is the Chief Impact Officer of CompostNow.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Any new business is not a smooth road, and composting is no different! Of course, there are the regular challenges that any start-up faces such as staffing, financial support, etc. With composting, we are also dealing with an extraordinary amount of physical weight, which adds its own challenges.
Please tell us about your business.
Susan: CompostNow is a community composting service that empowers community members and local businesses to divert their compostables from the landfill, and instead, use those nutrients to build healthy soil. We collect food scraps and other compostables, help turn it into nutrient-rich compost, and return it back to our members and garden partners to be used to increase soil health. This closed-loop system, something we call “nutrient-cycling,” allows us to support local community gardens and urban farms and strengthen our local food systems. That is something we are very proud of – building community through composting.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
All of our teammates over the years!
Pricing:
- Our weekly home composting service is $29/month.
- Our office composting programs start at $99/month.
- Our food service composting programs start at $99/month.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.compostnow.org
- Phone: (919) 526-0403
- Email: thedirt@compostnow.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compostnow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CompostNow/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/compostnow
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