ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — A local composting company looks to grow beyond food waste collection. Nettle Curbside Compost is proposing a new project that would bring farming, education and sustainability all in one place. The team wants to build a working farm and education center.
For Nettle Curbside Compost, their weekly routine is picking up trash and taking it to the compost to sift through. “This is what I want to be doing. We started this business because we imagined that in 20 years, there will be a municipal level composting,” said Kate Whitacre, Worker, Owner and Founding Member of Nettle Curbside Compost.
For the last two years, Jessie Crow Mermel and Kate Whitacre have been using a plot of land off of Lincoln Park Boulevard for composting. Now, they want to build infrastructure. “My partners and I had been talking about offering composting to the community for many years. When the land became available in the land bank, it really seemed like our signal to go ahead and do it. Composting has been very important to us, and we see it as a great solution for a lot of environmental issues that we’re facing,” said Jessie Crow Mermel, Worker, Owner and Founding Member of Nettle Curbside Compost…