According to Wikipedia, a social enterprise is an “organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being”. In other words, a social enterprise is a business that as they profit, the local community (and society) profits as well. There are many social enterprises addressing the issue of compost right now. Just in Columbus, there are small composting enterprises such as Compost Columbus (http://www.compostcolumbus.com/) and larger enterprise
such as Price Farms Organics, Ltd. (http://www.pricefarms.org/Delivery.html) The Ohio State University uses Price Farms Organics for the Zero Waste project. The Zero Waste projects is implemented during the
Autumn semester at Ohio State Stadium during footb
all games where recyclable and compostable materials are sorted at the stadium and brought to Price Farms where the compostable materials are turned into compost and fertilizer. For my issue supporting this social enterprise
is our essentially our main goal. We want to implement a system like Zero Waste at football games but year round through out our dining halls, resident halls, and small restaurants around the campus such as Oxley’s and the Bread Company. There are many challenges that exist at the moment to get this implemented. We need to work with dining hall services about who is going to pick up and sort through the compostable waste? If Price Farms is willing to take our compost? The transportation of the compost? There are so many steps that we still need to take into consideration in how this whole process will work out. We have contacted Gina Hnytka, the program manager of EEDS and AEDE Undergraduate and Graduate Programs who runs the sustains group on campus to see if we can discuss with her how their small resident hall is composting their material. The most important things to consider when viewing this issue through the social enterprise lens is making sure that people see the benefit of composting and will utilize this system if implemented on campus. If people do not use it, Price Farms (the social enterprise we are hoping to use for our compostable items), Ohio State, and the
environment will not benefit from our work. Going back to the Justice-Oriented Citizen model, all three levels are being fulfilled for social enterprise (for composting). There are the personally responsible citizens who utilize small composting and recycle bins given by the companies. The participatory citizens are those who implement composting systems through out small neighborhoods or campuses. The social-justice orientated citizen are those who not only implement composting systems but those who figure out why people do not compost and to see if they can find a way to make more individuals compost and see the benefits.
A video that I found for Social Enterprise was a Social Enterprise Podcast on YouTube with two individuals who started a company named Compost Crew. Ryan Walter (the CEO of Compost Crew) and Brian Flores (the COO of compost crew) who have now served thousands of families through the DC metro area and Baltimore with composting. In the video they state that they started as a small business serving around 20 people and with a lot of trial and error have created a huge business. The key takeaways I got form this video is the fact that they almost quit their business but they were able to bounce back because they saw the reward that came from their idea. They said the three major value proposition in their company are: reducing carbon footprint, reducing need of synthetic fertilizer and reducing manufacture of oil. They explained that it is important to start a business with a good partner who will bring you up when times get hard and who is willing to cooperate with you no matter what. They also stated that it is a scary process and nothing is easy, but it is totally worth it to keep working for the product you wanted and to see out your project.
We have a great group who is trying to work really hard to get this implemented on our campus and we are all extremely passionate about this idea. It is just hard to talk to people due to our busy schedules and trying to get people to reply to our emails. We hope to have more information within the next few weeks.
Wikipedia site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_enterprise
YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBHUVLa68O4