Collective Resource Compost began when Erlene Howard, an Evanston resident, became interested in composting but couldn't find a good place to do it in her condo environment. Howard, a bookkeeper by trade, is a frequent consumer of organic fruits and vegetables. She was inspired to start a food scrap recycling service when she realized that, if composting were made more convenient, more people would do it.

Her first pickups started with three customers, using her Toyota Camry for collection. Collective Resource Compost’s customer base has since grown to over 3000 residential and nearly 300 commercial customers. The company now uses five cargo vans and four box trucks to collect pre- and post-consumer food scraps weekly in an area that extends to over 60 communities encompassing Chicago’s entire north side as well as near south and southwest side neighborhoods and the suburbs north to Lake Bluff and extending west to South Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Hanover Park, Roselle, Bloomingdale and Long Grove.

During their first six months of business, Collective Resource Compost collected a single ton. Now they collect 40+ tons per week. The company reached a total collection milestone of 10,000 tons in January 2023.