Compost Service Finds Like-Minded Customer

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA

A new compost pick-up service, Worms Waste Not, recently opened for business.

Founder Dr. Rachel Frick Cardelle explained, “Worms waste not and neither should we.”

The company’s web-site encourages visitors to “green your routine.” Instead of sending organic waste to the landfill, where it rots and produces methane gas, which warms the planet, people can compost kitchen scraps.

Frick Cardelle explained some of the benefits of composting.

“Composting cuts back on the amount of garbage you produce,” Frick Cardelle said. “It prevents food waste. Compost addresses the health of the soil.”

Using compost instead of commercial fertilizer can also save money.

She said, “It comes back to you in a bountiful harvest.”

Frick Cardelle credits several people for inspiring her to start this business, which she launched in March 2024.

“My daughters educated me about the importance of sustainability,” she explained. “We separated out our food waste when we lived in Worcester, Massachusetts and had a service there that took it for composting.”

Frick Cardelle moved to Oneonta in 2021 when her husband, Dr. Alberto J. F. Cardelle, became president of SUNY Oneonta.

“We hired a young man to haul our food waste and unfortunately he had to close the business soon after he started it,” she recalled.

It was hard to find an alternate provider to pick up their compost.

Frick Cardelle said, “One of my daughters said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’”

She discovered that Michelle Iannelli-Rubin, owner/manager, of Social Eats Café, also needed a new provider to pick up their food waste.

Problem solved. Social Eats Café became Worms Waste Not’s first customer.

Iannelli-Rubin was raised on a small farm in West Fulton, New York.

“Social Eats Café has a mission to be a zero-waste small business,” Iannelli-Rubin said.

A cause-driven community cafe, Social Eats operates on Main Street in the East End of Oneonta, serving quality food and drinks.

One of the cafe’s objectives is to increase environmental and financial sustainability in the region.

Iannelli-Rubin said, “Partnering with Worms Waste Not fulfills this objective and supports building a better future for the next generation.”

Frick Cardelle and Social Eats Café agree that composting is a socially responsible thing to do. They both want to preserve the beauty of this area for future generations to come.

“My goal is to reduce landfill while helping turn food waste into black soil gold that supports our local farming and gardening communities,” said Frick Cardelle.

She created her business for busy people like herself.

She said, “I am not a gardener. I like to go to the farmer’s market to buy my fresh fruits and vegetables. I would not use the compost in my own yard. Pick-up and transportation of food waste for composting are what my business is trying to address.”

For customer convenience, Worms Waste Not will be at the farmer’s market in Oneonta several times a month to make it easy for residents to drop off their food waste and pick up freshly-cleaned compost containers there.

For those who prefer door-to-door pick-up, with clean buckets provided, that’s available too. For a schedule, pricing and information on how to sign up, go to www.wormswastenot.com.

Food waste does start to smell when it begins to decompose. If tossed outside in the yard, it can attract rodents and other pests, Frick Cardelle warned. Compost needs to be turned and tilled and kept moist. It can be a time-consuming process.

Iannelli-Rubin said, “You can let Worms Waste Not do all the back-end, hard work.”

Frick Cardelle is creating a win-win-win supply chain relationship with the local community. Currently, she picks-up food waste and delivers it to Two Fox Farms in Mount Vision. Jeremiah Salzman turns the organic waste into feed for his farm animals and fertilizer for his farm.

Eventually, Frick Cardelle would like to work with Casella Waste and Seward’s Sand & Gravel on a much larger scale as her business grows. These two companies worked with the City of Oneonta to receive a matching grant for the purchase of compost equipment and trucks to handle a much higher volume of compost.

Her research into food waste has made Frick Cardelle more aware of how much food her own family discards and how much less garbage they produce by composting.

“The big take away is that we need to be aware of our individual choices,” she said.

“Alberto and I lived in Guatemala for several years,” Frick Cardelle continued.

Living there gave her an appreciation for local farmers, farming and living more sustainably without expensive fertilizers and harmful pesticides.

Frick Cardelle said, “For me, this younger generation really inspires me. They are all about sustainability. I have tremendous respect for the local farmers and farming culture here, too. When I visited a farm two years ago, I saw all the ways they live in harmony with the land and nature. They were in the midst of doing canning. It really spoke to me.”

Frick Cardelle spent six months educating herself on the food waste industry and various regulations.

She said, “I took two classes on how to run a for-profit business: one with the Small Business Development Center with Michelle Catan and one with SUNY Cobleskill.”

“It is exciting to be able to educate and serve customers,” Frick Cardelle added. “Michelle Iannelli-Rubin, Michelle Catan and Jeremiah Salzman have taught me so much.”