Old, withered vegetables. Crinkled-up coffee filters. Fruit peelings that are days old. Most people think kitchen garbage is disgusting. But Richard Stenz has gotten used to the site of it all.

"I've kind of got passed that," he said laughing as he put two and five gallon buckets on his bicycle.

The artist and musician is now composting for the Trinity Park community in Durham, near Duke. He'll pick up kitchen scraps from his customer's porches and exchange them for a bucket of fresh compost. He ages it in his own backyard.

"I just thought it would be a nice thing for the whole neighborhood to get involved in." Richard Stenz.

It all began when Stenz and his girlfriend started gardening. He planted the vegetables. She would handle the flowers. Composting became a no-brainer.

"I can't see why you wouldn't do it. I'm from New York City and I didn't really have the opportunity to do this," he said. "It's perfect for North Carolina because it's so dry ... and aside from the nutrients it adds to the soil, it retains water."

Stenz calls his grassroots composting operation "Trinity Green." He charges $15 a month for the smaller buckets; $20for the larger ones.

"I know most people on this block actually have their own compost bin," said Elizabeth Healey, one of Stenz's customers. "I wanted to build a compost bin and my husband didn't want to build it."

Healey is one of 30 customers that Stenz now serves on his bike route.

"I would be going to buy compost and this way ... we're just giving it back and getting it back in," she said. "I think everybody should do it as much garbage we put down the disposal or in the trash."

To learn more about Trinity Green, e-mail: trinitygreen@rocketmail.com

Read all about composting in North Carolina by clicking on the related link below.

Related Links

1. http://www.p2pays.org/compost/