Time-saving and impact-boosting for local composters

The Living Compost Hubs app is a compost management tool aimed at small- to medium-scale composting enterprises. It enables composting enterprises to easily record and track data, enabling better compost management, process efficiency and product quality, impact reporting, and savings on admin time. 

We offer a free tier to make the benefits accessible to volunteer-run initiatives, a low-cost tier for small organisations, and two more comprehensive tiers for initiatives pulling in more revenue or overseeing many sites.

Background

The app was originally developed by Kaicycle (Wellington, NZ) to address its real-world composting enterprise needs, and we hope that the app will help many other composters achieve better results and boost their positive impacts. 

Kaicycle outgrew their paper and spreadsheet based composting management systems, which were dubiously effective, and Sheldon Levet, our tech-whizz founder, decided to build a system from scratch to serve the composting and customer management needs of Kaicycle.

Kaicycle received funding from Wellington City Council to support the composting sector by opening the app to other organisations and further developing it, so UX designer and developer Pete jumped onto the team, took the app to new heights and became a co-director with Kate when we split the Living Compost Hubs App out into its own delightful organisation.

Living Compost Hubs now exists to serve composters and the composting sector. Check out our recent feature in Biocycle CONNECT: https://www.biocycle.net/living-compost-hubs-app-goes-international/

How it works

Composters on the ground use a guided mobile-first website to create batches, log material additions, log notes and observations (such as temperature and moisture levels), check batch progress, and mark turns if relevant.

“Before the app, I’d record things on paper or in a notes app, then go home and transfer it into a spreadsheet – it was long-winded and involved lots of math. Now it’s so easy and quick and streamlined”

– Liam, composter at Kaicycle using Living Compost Hubs

Compost managers can use our desktop-friendly website to view reports on food scraps diverted from landfill and feedstock use per site per month. They can also use the desktop website to set up custom feedstocks and recipes, and monitor batches across multiple sites.

“It’s a one-stop shop, the one place I can go to look at all our composting and customer data. It replaces a lot of different spreadsheets I used to use with varying success”

– Kate, compost manager at Kaicycle and Living Compost Hubs Co-Director.

All data is stored securely in a database in the cloud, hosted by best-in-class data services. This is the big step up from spreadsheets to a tailored software solution.

Kaicycle has been running on this system for several years now (including during development). We have 25 other users, at different stages from trying it out to having it well integrated into their operations.

We have a range of common feedstocks with compositions based on research. Organisations can quickly copy feedstocks from our range and adjust them based on local variations, and can create their own feedstocks for local materials.

Recipes make it easy to quickly keep batches in balance and onboard new composters. Organisations can quickly create recipes and hone them from batch monitoring learnings. The app was designed for box-based or batch hot-composting, and one of our clients is now trialling the system with a 400 tonne/year continuous flow horizontal composting unit.

What’s next?

Living Compost Hubs also has a food scrap customer sign-up and management service, which supports a $9k NZD/mo revenue stream for Kaicycle. Opening this part of the app to other organisations is on our product roadmap.

The app now supports both imperial and metric measurements, as well as volume based operations, so we’re also ready to serve composters in the United States (and Liberia).

We’re just starting to reach out internationally, and we’re curious to talk with more small- and medium-scale composters to see how this app could help them streamline and improve their operations.

You can learn more about the app, explore and play around in the demo version, and book a call with us to discuss at https://app.livingcomposthubs.org.nz/. We are keen to hear from composters about their particular needs, and discuss how our app could help.

We really value discussing your operations and needs, even if our app isn’t the right fit for you – so please do book a time to call or flick us an email.