This new nonprofit is focused on making composting easy

Megan Raposa -

Simplified: A (relatively) new Sioux Falls resident wants to make composting more common. Enter SoDak Compost.

Tell me more

SoDak Compost Founder Deirdre Appel moved from Brooklyn, New York to Sioux Falls last June.

In Brooklyn, she said there were many options for composting, from city-run programs to community gardens to private services who would collect compostable materials from people's homes.

But when she got to Sioux Falls?

"I just kept running into all these dead ends with it," Appel said.

That's why she launched SoDak Compost this week (which is also International Compost Awareness Week).

Why it matters

  • Sioux Falls' landfill has the option for people to compost yard waste, but there isn't a community-wide compost option for food scraps.
  • SoDak Compost is hoping to change that one step at a time, starting with a community compost pilot program, in which individuals and families can bring their scraps to be composted at IronFox Farms (learn more about them here).
  • Composting food scraps is a way to both reduce the amount of stuff going into the landfill and to produce compost that can then be used to fuel community gardens, Appel said.
"The food scraps that go into our garbage have so much potential, and it's really not trash or garbage at all," she said.

What happens next?

SoDak Compost is looking for people to join its six-month pilot program, based on IronFox Farms in east-central Sioux Falls.

The program has capacity to take in about 300 pounds of food each week, and it's estimated the average family produces about 8 pounds per week, Appel said.

You can learn more and apply for the pilot program on the nonprofit's website.