In late 2010, business student Dan Blake was at an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant when it occurred to him that an unbelievable amount of the restaurant’s food was ending up in the garbage. Blake began thinking of possible business opportunities by taking the waste, converting it, and selling it back as another usable product.
The result was EcoScraps, a national award winning organic and sustainable compost mix which has been called a “Top 25 Most Promising Social Venture in America.” Not only has Blake enjoyed amazing margins, but his process diverts over 20 tons of food waste a day from local landfills. By removing this large amount of decomposing waste, to date, EcoScraps has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 9.16 million pounds of methane, the equivalent of parking 844,442 cars for two weeks.