Well folks, the numbers are in. 85 households, 10 weeks, and 4,134 documented pounds of diverted food waste later, we’re compost champs! For this encore blog I thought you’d be interested in some highlights from your just-completed post-project survey.
Judging from the responses, I think it’s safe to say this year’s challenge was a heap of success. Across the board almost all of us are confident in our abilities to explain the hows and whys of composting and often of reducing waste more generally. Some of us struggled a bit to submit data on time, faced difficulties with interested critters, or met tricky maneuvering with the lawn mower around that bin. Not a single household, however, was dissatisfied with the performance of their Earth Machine and all but one household reported that they will continue using it. That outlier household, by the way, has opted to keep giving their scraps to the neighbor’s pigs instead, so really who can blame them?
Many families also found the Backyard Compost Challenge experience to be very rewarding. The Jordan family reported that they valued the challenge because “we have been wanting to compost but had no idea what we were doing. This project and all its information was so helpful in getting us started.”
The Jordans weren’t the only ones who appreciated that this project was the final nudge they needed to accomplish a long-held goal. Brandy Montgomery valued “the ability to share knowledge and learning process with [her] kid” along with many other parents who enjoyed learning alongside their children and helping them “understand the value of composting,” as Grace Loughead put it. Others loved that they were creating “black gold for [their] flower beds” (the Sebrell’s flowers are lucky indeed) and how composting made them feel better about their impact on the Earth.
Beyond composting itself, the Backyard Compost Challenge seems to have influenced many of us in our waste reduction behaviors more broadly. The Wasser household, for example, shared that their daughter now refuses to use plastic straws. The Textors have been inspired to buy more things that can be composted rather than thrown away, while many households have begun to think more about what can be recycled in addition to what can be composted. It’s amazing how one shift in our lifestyles can ripple out waves of positive change!
Boxerwood also got some great suggestions for changes to make in any future challenges, like more kid-friendly (and maybe laminated) information sheets, video how-tos, and in-person celebrations and classes. These are all great ideas that we’ll be sure to keep in mind for next year’s potential Backyard Compost Challenge.
All of us at Boxerwood so appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experiences for this year’s challenge. We are very excited to hear that all participants (in the hundreds!) plan to continue to contribute to the well-being of our planet through composting, and to the well-being of some very spoiled pigs. For me, what I have most valued in this project is how much it’s renewed my faith in the ability of communities to get together, be passionate, and make a difference.
Congratulations to the 2022 Backyard Compost Challenge Completers and their families!
