We are a worker-owned and operated residential compost collection service that uses cargo bicycles to haul food scraps from your kitchen to local composting sites in Santa Cruz. We believe that the resilience of our communities is inseparable from the health of the land we live on. Transforming our food waste into fertile compost is one small way we can collectively nurture the land in the midst of global environmental crisis, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester carbon in the soil.
Sign up for weekly pickups from Hard Core now and get a free gallon of finished compost every month!
Why Hard Core?
Hard Core Compost and the City of Santa Cruz both collect food scraps. However, we offer clear benefits over the city’s collection program!
We make compost and keep it local to enrich our gardens and communities.
We collect about 2,000 lbs of material weekly via bicycle and process it manually over a 4- month cycle. Once the finished compost has matured it is ready to be returned to customers for their home gardens. Our process is old-school. We create compost with manual labor and without added chemicals or fertilizers. All of our material comes from Santa Cruz County and all of our finished soil goes back into our local community.
We are a worker-owned cooperative; all workers have an ownership stake in the business, get a share of yearly profits, and make democratic decisions about how we operate.
When you give your organics to Hard Core Compost, you draw a direct line between your kitchen and healthy soil for local gardens. We can also break down your PLA, PHA, and fiber-based packaging. We work in cooperation with bacteria, fungi, worms, and arthropods to build this soil that allows our community to continue to grow nutritious food for us to bring to our kitchens and feed our families with, closing the loop of reciprocity with the plants and soil that feed us.
Note: please check your packaging to make sure it is TUV or BPI certified before putting it in your compost bucket.
Hard Core Compost in the News!
https://www.goodtimes.sc/columns/hard-core-compost/
https://thecabrillovoice.com/compost-crusaders/
https://sustainablesystemsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bioplastics.pdf
HCC and the Hub for Sustainable Living
Hard Core Compost LLC’s office is located at 703 Pacific Avenue, in the community center known as the Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Living. The Hub is a community center and 501(c)3 non-profit based in Santa Cruz, CA. Sustainable living includes skill-building, appropriate and affordable re/use of resources, human-powered transportation, building solidarity among communities, and nurturing creative culture. The Hub supports a broad constellation of independent, interrelated projects by providing space at it’s community center, and/or fiscal sponsorship as a non-profit umbrella organization. The Hub’s projects provide access to space, resources, and educational opportunities through demonstration, outreach, and hands-on learning. Learn more at http://www.santacruzhub.org/– you can also visit @santacruzhub on Instagram and Facebook.
