Groundcycle

Groundcycle is a New York City-based biodegradable waste management company that provides local produce deliveries and compost collection services. Services include "bin swaps", a door-to-door service where fresh produce is exchanged for food scraps.

Groundcycle

Industry	Compost collection services
Founded	May 2020; 5 years ago (2020-05)
Founder	Vivian Lin
Area served	New York City
Website	groundcycle.org

History

During the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City temporarily shut down their composting program and local farms could not sell their produce. In May 2020, Vivian Lin, a Brooklyn native with a bachelor's degree in architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI),^[1] created Groundcycle to address the city's limitations in composting.^[2] In shifting her focus on sustainability,^[1] Lin understood farmers to take organic trash in order to turn it into nutrient rich fertilizer.^[3] In the early developments, Lin's friends, family, and volunteers helped transport food scraps to the farms, with thirteen of Lin's friends signing up in the first week to help.^[1][4] Two months later, Lin quit her job at an architecture firm to pursue Groundcycle full-time.^[5] In early development, Lin called around 40 farms to explore the exchange of food scraps with the farms' produce.^[4]

Although New York City has since reinstated is compost program, Groundcycle addresses the city's limited coverage and supporting areas without access. As of 2022, Groundcycle also operated a Compost Hub every Sunday at Vinegar Hill Community Garden, where locals exchanged their compost for fresh produce.^[2]

Services

Groundcycle charges households to take their organic waste in exchange for local farm produce. Moreover, the company pays farms to take the organic waste.^[3]

Impact

In February 2021, ABC7 New York reported that Lin had "two cars working to sort 50,000 pounds of garbage".^[3]