In this episode, Terry Craghead, founder and CEO of Fertile Ground Cooperative, joins ILSR’s host Jordan Ashby on the Composting for Community podcast to share how Fertile Ground went from competing on Big Waste’s terms to creating a new set of terms altogether.

Since 2011, Fertile Ground Cooperative has been creating local jobs, educating their community, strengthening neighborhood ties, and building local resilience while competing in a highly concentrated waste management landscape. Operating as a worker-owned cooperative model that places decision-making power in the hands of workers, Fertile Ground stands in stark contrast to Oklahoma City monopoly waste companies.
In this episode, Terry and Jordan discuss:
- The democratic and economic value of worker-owned cooperative structure for Fertile Ground Cooperative, and how the puts decision making power in the hands of workers.
- Big Waste’s chokehold on the waste stream and the challenges – such as contamination and lower-quality customer service – of subcontracting with Waste Management.
- How Fertile Ground Cooperative broke free from Waste Management and is now winning contracts through partnering with other local businesses.
- Meeting customers where they are and providing education and outreach to raise awareness of the benefits of composting.

Fertile Ground is proving that small-scale, locally driven solutions can have a big impact. Their alternative worker-owned model not only diverts food waste but also challenges the status quo, and nurtures a more just, circular economy — one compost pile at a time.

Related Resources:

Transforming Your Community’s Waste to Wealth: Infographics
https://ilsr.org/articles/transforming-communitys-waste-to-wealth/

For the full transcript, visit ilsr.org.
https://ilsr.org/articles/terry-craghead