Java Bradley and his wife, Michelle, don’t mind getting their hands dirty. In fact, dirt is their business. In 2018, the pair started Java’s Compost, which picks up food waste from residents of a dozen towns in Morris, Essex and Union counties and delivers it to facilities that turn it into nutrient-rich compost.
Their company is one of several in the Garden State providing this service for residents, businesses and municipalities, including Neighborhood Compost in Bergen County, Community Compost in Jersey City and Hoboken and Un-Waste at the Jersey Shore. In addition, a host of community gardens managed by the Northeast Earth Coalition in Passaic, Hudson and Essex counties, and municipalities such as Bloomfield, Millburn and Jersey City, accept drop-offs of food scraps.
An estimated 30 to 40 percent of food is wasted in the United States annually, about 103 million tons. Composting reduces the amount of organic matter that ends up in landfills and uses it to create natural, nutrient-rich fertilizer for gardens and agriculture. (Absent compost, farmers use chemical fertilizers to enhance soil.)
What’s more, recycling food scraps slows the release of methane gas, a leading cause of climate change, into the atmosphere.
Java Bradley calls his work “tremendously rewarding. What you don’t eat goes back into the soil and is part of the natural cycle,” he says. “It’s pretty amazing to be a part of one of the most ancient methods of managing waste.”
Weekly curbside food-waste pickups from Java’s Compost cost $13, or $52 monthly. You can drop off at collection points for about $20 a month.
Bradley is trying to make the pickup of food scraps more affordable, despite significant costs for trucks, gas, drivers and insurance. He’s hoping to work with more towns that will provide free drop-offs to residents. Once collected, food scraps go to Ag-Choice in Andover, the only facility in the state that produces soil from food waste. The compost then goes to garden centers, farmers, counties and interstates that use it along roadways. Because it’s extremely absorbent, compost is also useful for mitigating runoff and flooding.
Builders can also use compost for new construction; in Pennsylvania, they are required by law to use it in their foundations, Bradley says. He is hoping that, in New Jersey, legislators do more to encourage the recycling of food waste and modify what he calls “antiquated” regulations.
“New Jersey could be a more robust location for composting, but we’re not there yet,” he says.
