My Green Michigan

Food waste and loss is a significant problem across the U.S with an estimated 1.5 to 2 million pounds of food waste generated just in Michigan annually. Businesses like My Green Michigan are tackling organic recycling and food waste head on. 

My Green Michigan is an organics collection company that picks up from organizations and businesses and delivers truck loads of organics to compost sites, diverting material from landfills. The majority of the food My Green Michigan picks up comes from high-volume food waste generators like hotels, event venues, hospitals, and schools. Their composting partners, which include Spurt Industries in Wixom and Hammond Farms in Dewitt, compost back-of-house scraps like peels and leaves to spoiled meat and dairy. 

What happens to these food scraps after My Green Michigan drops them off at composting sites? The food scraps, rich in nitrogen, are mixed together alongside materials that are rich in carbon, like dry leaves and even cardboard, all according to their specific compost recipes. Bacteria and fungi break these materias down over time, and the end result is compost, a soil amendment filled with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that is sold and used in a variety of applications including on farms and in gardens.

My Green Michigan works hard to educate businesses, schools, and other organizations on the importance of composting food waste. They teach prospective clients about how organics produce methane gas when they break down in the closed environment of a landfill and offer tours of Spurt Industries or Hammond Farms to food waste generators that want to learn more about how composting transforms food scraps.

Luckily, many Michigan municipalities are starting to catch the compost fever and are interested in partnering with My Green Michigan to haul residential food waste. In fact, they have already established several successful food waste drop-off sites for residents in various communities.

My Green Michigan empowers businesses and residents to play a role in reducing food waste, engaging Michigan’s circular economy, and even helping mitigate climate change, one food scrap at a time. They’re grateful to be a part of Michigan’s compost industry and hope to continue expanding their work.