Great Dirt: Columbia Falls company nearing its 1 millionth pound of composting waste this year. Folks are urged to compost, too.

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Alissa LaChance would like to divert as much food waste from the Flathead County landfill as possible.

This year her business, Dirt Rich in Columbia Falls, will see a rather remarkable achievement: It will have made nearly 1 million pounds of food and other waste into compost this year.

LaChance, a Whitefish native, thought she would become a farmer after graduating from the University of Montana with a degree in environmental studies. Her interest back then was the human interaction with sustainable agriculture. 

But she took an interest in composting and in 2015, she founded Dirt Rich and was the sole employee in the fledgling business.

The company began composting local yard waste and more importantly, food waste from the large vendors in Glacier National Park, like Xanterra and Pursuit, which were interested in reducing their waste streams while helping the environment.

Since that humble beginning, Dirt Rich has quickly emerged as a force of stewardship and community engagement.

 In 2023, the company successfully collected and processed over 872,000 pounds of local waste. Specializing in organic waste recycling and quality compost production, the facility has contributed to local environmental sustainability and provided a service to the community.

Compost is a great way of enhancing soil health for not only farmers, but for home gardeners, LaChance noted in a recent interview.

“The soil has to be fertile and compost is a huge piece of that,” she said.

 In the simplest terms, composting transforms organic food and yard waste into a nutrient-rich soil additive to rebuild and enrich  agricultural soils naturally, without the use of fossil fuel-based fertilizers. Not only is compost a more energy efficient way to grow food but it achieves more nutrient dense, better tasting food too, LaChance notes.

She said she is constantly refining the formula to create a perfect compost. It starts with a mix of yard and wood waste (like brush) along with food waste. LaChance and her staff carefully mix the ingredients together and it takes time and patience. For example, yard waste and leaves can sit a year before being used.

“It requires a lot of time and effort,” she said.

But the end result in a rich brown compost, high in plant nutrients.

This year LaChance and her modest staff will compost about 1 million pounds of waste in a fairly small patch of property north of Columbia Falls. It’s surrounded by a robust electric fence to keep bears out (the composting waste is rather odoriferous to the sensitive nose), but a host of birds stop by to steal a meal. On this day, for example, there was even a wild turkey poking around.

LaChance said that a full 50% of the waste in the Flathead County landfill could be composted.

She has expanded her customer base over the past nine years. She now takes waste from Costco and Rosauers grocers as well as many local restaurants.

Only about 1-2% of residents in the Flathead Valley compost their scraps and 3% of commercial businesses. Food is the single most common material sent to landfills in America, equating 24% of municipal solid waste. When yard trimmings, wood and paper/paperboard are added to food, the number goes up to 51%, LaChance notes.

The company makes it easy to compost your waste, offering home pickup for a nominal fee each month. It also has an option to drop off waste in a bear-proof receptacle 24/7.

Composting can also cut costs for homeowners, as they can reduce the number of garbage pickups they need each month, LaChance noted. Folks can also drop off yard waste and leaves directly at Dirt Rich’s Columbia Falls facility, but it’s best to check ahead.

Dirt Rich also sells its compost both commercially and residentially, including Columbia Nursery in Columbia Falls, the Center for Native Plants, Third Street Market, Hoopers and Nelson’s Ace Hardware.

For more information on its programs and products, visit its website at: dirtrichcompost.com