WILLIAMSBURG — Fill Happy, a locally-owned business focusing on sustainable products and reducing waste, now offers a weekly composting service.
The doorstep service allows customers to place all compostable items into a provided bin, lined with a certified compostable bag, that is picked up from your home weekly.
“I think it is really eye-opening when you realize over 50% of waste set out at the curb is compostable. So, instead of hauling waste to landfills that lack air, where the decomposition process is ineffective and produces methane emissions, we (Fill Happy) take away that waste and locally process it into something meaningful and purposeful,” said Jana Flores, owner of Fill Happy.
The service can accept any materials that were grown or have lived. This includes plant clippings, all table scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, bones, and paper products. Fill Happy has a complete list of acceptable items.
The program is different from backyard composting because they send the items to a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permitted composting facility that can handle all organic materials — all food waste, including processed foods, meat bones, seafood as well as some paper products.
Through the Fill Happy program, composting should be easy, convenient and manageable for participants said Flores, “This program is a great way to help people close the loop on food waste but, who don’t want to deal with the process of composting.”
The service is offered to residents within a 12-mile radius from Colonial Williamsburg — this includes Williamsburg, James City County, Toano, Norge and some parts of York County.
Clients with a minimum three-month membership also receive one refillable 40-pound bag of finished compost twice a year.
“When we send (compostable items) to the landfills, we are taking precious nutrients from the cycle and discarding them — and our soil is degrading — so, these nutrients belong to Earth. By composting and using that composite we are putting nutrients back into the Earth and the soil will be better, more productive, more healthy and it helps the water as well,” Flores stated.
Visit Fill Happy online or at its retail location for more information.
