Cranston, RI, USA
GreenCycle RI is a student-led curbside compost pickup that makes it easy for households to divert food scraps from the landfill and turn them into compost for local gardens.
1 - 6 months
$12,500.00
Last update: October 05, 2023
Rhode Island relies heavily on one main landfill, and a big chunk of what goes in it is food waste that did not need to be trash. When food scraps get buried, they break down without oxygen and release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. At the same time, that organic material could have been turned into compost that improves soil for gardens and green spaces.
The challenge is that composting is not easy for most households and schools. People either do not have space, do not know how, worry about smell and pests, or do not have a convenient drop off option. So the default becomes throwing everything away. This creates a local problem (landfill capacity, hauling costs, and community waste) and a global problem (climate impact). GreenCycle RI is designed to make food-scrap diversion simple, consistent, and measurable in our own community, then scalable to other Rhode Island neighborhoods and schools.
GreenCycle RI is a student-led curbside compost pickup service that diverts food scraps from the trash and turns them into compost for local gardens. Our approach is built around convenience, low contamination, and real data.
How it works:
Households (and later schools) subscribe for weekly or biweekly pickup.
Each subscriber gets a small kitchen pail and clear “yes and no” rules to prevent contamination.
On pickup day, we collect sealed buckets, swap if needed, and transport the material to a local compost partner or approved community compost hub.
We weigh and log every pickup so we can track pounds diverted, participation, and contamination rate.
Finished compost is returned to subscribers and donated to school or community gardens to close the loop.
Methodology and rollout:
Pilot with 10 to 15 households to prove the system and tighten the process.
Improve routing, training, and contamination controls using what we learn.
Scale neighborhood by neighborhood and add one school or community partner for higher volume.
Publish a simple playbook so other student teams in Rhode Island can replicate the model.
Success is measured by total pounds diverted, clean-bin rate, subscriber retention, and compost delivered back to the community.
Built a repeatable service model: Designed a student-run curbside compost pickup system (routes, pickup schedule, subscriber flow) that can start small and scale.
Created contamination controls: Made clear “accepted / not accepted” rules, bin labeling ideas, and a feedback system to keep loads clean and usable.
Set up impact tracking: Planned a simple measurement method (weigh pickups, log totals, track contamination rate) so the project can prove results with real data.
Developed an implementation plan: Outlined a pilot of 10–15 households, then expansion to more neighborhoods and a school/community site for higher volume.
Prepared a realistic budget and sustainability plan: Mapped how startup costs (bins, PPE, scale, transport) connect to a subscription model so it can continue after initial funding.
Validated the problem locally: Used Rhode Island landfill and food-waste context to justify why organics diversion matters here and why convenience is the main barrier.
