Welcome to BioBag’s Community Heroes series! Each month, we will highlight community heroes that are making a difference in their communities and working to make their local environments cleaner and healthier.

This month, we are taking a look at Green Box Compost!

Green Box Compost is a composting service in the Madison Area of Wisconsin. BioBag Associate spoke to Esai Ponce of Green Box about the organization. Their interview is transcribed below.

What led you to start your composting operation?

Ponce: Ben grew up in a family that interacted with soil intimately. They prided themselves on their large vegetable garden, and composted the scraps from their plates, turning them into nutrients for next year’s garden. He knew this natural cycle from practice, and wondered if there wasn’t a way to make it accessible to people with less time and space.

In 2017, after working at a green home builder and a sustainable seafood company, he discovered a composting company’s van making its rounds. He resolved to learn more about the industry, with an eye to helping his hometown of Madison access this important service. In 2021, he founded Green Box.

Who do you serve and how can people get in touch with you if they want to start composting?

Ponce: Madison Area residents, they can sign up online!

How much organic material do you typically take in on a weekly basis?

Ponce: 6 tons/week

Please give us 1 fun fact about you or your business.

Ponce: Before we amended the zoning codes for our warehouse to be a composting business it was a doggy day care; we sometimes still get furry visitors ~2 years later!

Feel free to add any additional information about your operation as you see fit.

Ponce: Building off the above, we are somewhat unique in that our operations take place in-vessel and indoors to maintain our agreement with the city of Sun Prairie.

 

If you would like to be featured in a future edition of Community Heroes, please email us at marketing@biobagusa.com.