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Everyday items Rust Belt Riders can compost

Rust Belt Riders, a worker’s co-op located in Cleveland, specializing in clean composting, is not wrongly named. When it began 10 years ago, it was a small group of individuals carrying compost material across The Forest City on motorcycles, led by co-founders Dan Brown and Michael Robinson. Now, the co-op is 35 workers strong and its impact is reaching farther than ever. At the core of this growth is their philosophy that nothing is wasted. The co-op’s co-founder, Robert Kurtz said “In nature, everything is used, nothing goes to waste. The idea of waste is kind of man-made.”

Rust Belt Riders’ waste-free operation is organized into three main categories. First, it provides businesses with a cleaner alternative to food waste by picking up and composting their raw material. Similarly, Rust Belt Riders will pick up waste from residential clients, a service that grew in popularity in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, through Tilth Soil, they resell soil produced from the compost. It is a cycle, like nature itself.

Rust Belt Riders’ clients are varied, ranging from single households to entire chains like Heinen’s Grocery Stores, but they all share one key aspect. Kurtz said “We like to think of ourselves as a coalition of the willing… all of those folks are doing this at a time when there’s no financial incentive or regulatory scrutiny. They’re choosing to do this.”

However, Rust Belt Riders have still faced their fair share of reluctance from potential clients. One reason for this reluctance is the nature of composting itself. Kurtz said, “compost can have a bad reputation sometimes because people think it’s smelly and dirty.” Rust Belt Riders have taken it upon themselves to fight this assumption. Not only are their composting bins sleek and professionally branded but their website is filled to the brim with street-style photography displaying raw compost material in all its variations. Instead of hiding the grimy parts of nature, Rust Belt Riders embrace them. “It’s just basically glorifying the work that we do as something that is worthy of being seen,” Kurtz said.

This visibility is not only part of a growing trend of composting but also increased environmental awareness among younger generations. Caitlyn Minney, ’28 echoes this sentiment. Minney said, “I think this new generation knows more because it [environmentalism] is more in conversation and doesn’t go under the radar.”

Even John Carroll has taken a more sustainable approach to its food waste. A worker at Schott Dining Hall, who wished to remain anonymous, said “waste is composted daily for the environment. [On] Fridays, we donate to the homeless shelter.”

Still, environmental work is often the story of incremental, barely noticeable change. Rust Belt Riders are aware of this challenge. Kurtz said that “environmentalism in general can be a pretty bleak landscape if you let it.” Rust Belt Riders have learned to fight this dour reality by recognizing the importance of community impact, even if it may initially seem insignificant.

In particular, Kurtz was moved by the impact the co-op has had on a local Amish community. Heinens, one of Rust Belt Riders’ biggest clients, regularly purchases from the Amish. Through Rust Belt Riders, the resulting food scraps are then packaged into soil and re-delivered to the Amish community specifically. “If we focus on that incremental change,” Kurtz said, “I think it’s a pretty fulfilling place to be and work … I think I’m constantly being renewed with hope.”

Thomas Fogle, ’26 said, “I like to think there’s a dedicated few … It’s these people that help me to keep my hope.”

Despite their success, Rust Belt Riders have no desire to go national. They do not want to frame themselves as the saviors of the planet or look down on others who are not as committed as they are. What is more important to them is the movement. To grow that movement necessitates an attitude of calling in, rather than calling out. It is slow and methodical, but it is working. Community composting has more than doubled since 2016. “It’s kinda just waiting for that wave to take off,” Kurtz said, “every time someone joins the cause that wave grows bigger and bigger.” Rust Belt Riders are just a small part of that wave, but their impact is essential to the community. In a movement, like in nature, there is no waste.