Going green, even on the most basic level, takes effort. It requires making conscious decisions on a daily basis—to recycle, to unplug, to conserve water, to go plastic-free, to shop local—turning individual effort into action that is beneficial to our planet. Perhaps one of the most overlooked ways to make an impact is through composting, which recycles organic matter (like food scraps) that is then used to fertilize and improve the soil.

For a business, composting is one of the easiest ways to be environmentally conscious and reduce its carbon footprint. Here are seven Hudson County businesses that compost:

1. Black Rail Coffee: Located at 800 Jackson Street in Hoboken, Black Rail has been proudly composting since the very beginning, even through a change in ownership.

2. Bwè Kafe: One of Bwè Kafe’s two Hoboken locations, its North End store (1401 Adams Street) began composting this year. As another way to keep green, Bwè’s online store offers “Zero Waste + Eco Options” for the conscious consumer.

3. Choc-O-Pain French Bakery and Café: This business composts companywide, in each of its three locations—downtown Hoboken, at 157 First Street; uptown Hoboken, at 1500 Hudson Street; and Jersey City, at 530 Jersey Avenue.

4. Do Good Donuts: This pop-up donut shop does more than fuel the soul, they protect the earth. They use sustainably sourced ingredients and compost all their unused scraps.

5. Hudson Table: Located at 1403 Clinton Street, this is, so far, the only restaurant in Hoboken that’s been confirmed to compost, reducing their carbon footprint one meal at a time.

6. Hoboken Food Pantry: Operated by the not-for-profit Hoboken Community Center, the Hoboken Food Pantry doesn’t just give much-needed resources to food-insecure residents; it also composts any leftover or damaged food in a large bin outside its facility.

7. Petite B Bakery: This little French bakery, located at 200 61st Street, in West New York, is on a mission to do its part, working directly with local pickup service Neighborhood Compost.

For any businesses interested in composting, here are two ways to get started:

Subscribe to Neighborhood Compost

Neighborhood Compost was launched in June 2020 as a subscription-based compost pickup service. They pick up from several New Jersey counties, including Hudson County, and have more than 150 compost subscribers. Since they began collecting food scraps and organic matter from both residences and businesses, they’ve helped divert 112,000 pounds of waste from landfills and facilitated the donation of 580 pounds of produce.

Founder Adison Evans and her team drive around weekly, biweekly or on a customized schedule to collect the donated materials, which then go to fertilize local farms or even are returned to subscribers for their own garden.

“By providing this ideal environment for these materials to break down efficiently and without producing methane, we can reduce how food is being wasted,” Evans says.

For more info, visit NeighborhoodCompost.com.

Contact a TRUE Zero-Waste Advisor

Leah Shoot is a Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) certified advisor who works with businesses in Hudson County and beyond, helping them make their business more efficient and ecofriendly through a waste management and composting program.

“Every business who cares about their community, their finances, and the state of the environment should look into implementing a composting program immediately. When businesses choose to compost, especially before they are mandated to do so, it’s their way of telling the community that they care about the cleanliness of our streets and air,” Shoot explained.

For more info, visit LeahShoot.com.

While the list of Hudson County businesses known to compost is small, there are plenty more that incorporate other green practices into their day-to-day operations. The hope, of course, is that as consumers become more eco-conscious, so too will the businesses that serve them.

Nicole Teitler—known by her trademark, Nikki On The Daily—is a brand storyteller based out of Hoboken. Contact her at [email protected] or NikkiOnTheDaily.com.