The Circular Economy in Action
This Phoenix company takes your food scraps and turns them into veggies delivered to your door.
Farmland for the Future
R. City is helping transition the greater Phoenix area from a food desert to having local, desert grown food. R. City, is a Phoenix based company that takes food scraps that homes make and creates compost that is used on their farm.
By using compost as a natural fertilizer, R. City is transforming the depleted soil into nutrient-dense soil to grow food within the local Phoenix area! They offer Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables delivered directly to residents’ homes. Not only that, but customers can request compost for their own backyard gardens.
R. City offers monthly subscriptions or one-time payments, so the choice is yours. It’s a real-life circular economy in action. R. City is creating a circular model out of a linear one. Normally wasted food, food scraps, compostable containers, etc. are simply thrown away and sent to the landfill. R. City is disrupting that by creating a resource out of compostable items. Rather than allowing food to end up in a landfill and wasting this resource, the food is used to create fertile farmland in the greater Phoenix Valley. Less methane producing food waste is sent to landfills and residents in the Phoenix Valley get access to more locally grown food. The system is a win-win!
Why is Composting Important?
Our take-out society doesn’t use food in its entirety the way our ancestors used to. We underutilize leftovers and toss food scraps that can still be consumed or composted into the trash. This is a problem because wasted food that gets sent to the landfill creates seven percent of the world’s emissions. By turning these food scraps into a resource through composting, as opposed to waste, we can not only reduce our greenhouse gas emissions but create natural fertilizer that aids in carbon capture, soil revitalization, water retention, and higher yields in agricultural crops.
How to Sign Up?
To make it easy, R. City offers a free two-week trial for individual home composting. After that, you will be able to sign up for a service that works with the size of your household. You can choose if you want your compost picked up every week, bi-weekly, or once a month. R. City also offers services for businesses, schools, churches, and restaurants. Just visit their website for more information or follow them on Instagram!
Article By: Trevor Harper
Trevor was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Due to the proximity of the Wasatch Mountains and the National Parks of southern Utah he developed a profound love and admiration for the natural world. With that love and admiration came an indelible urge to do his part in protecting it. As a PlasticScore Ambassador he is delving into the world he loves, waste. More specifically, the transformation of waste management to a more sustainable and circular model. He is currently working on a Master’s degree in Sustainability Solutions at Arizona State University.