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Expanding a Dirt Empire

Columbia Falls composting business DIRT Rich adds clients and acreage, will begin selling compost this spring

By Molly Priddy
Dirt Rich Composting in Columbia Falls. Beacon File Photo

I

n an ideal world, all food portions would be perfect for every person, all produce would be used in the correct amount of time, nothing would spoil, and no one would take up space in the landfill with food waste that could be used elsewhere.

We may not live in that reality quite yet, but Alissa LaChance at DIRT Rich Composting hopes to make it more of a possibility for visitors and residents in the Flathead Valley.

The Columbia Falls-based business has grown considerably since its inception in 2015, when it started as a composting and pick-up service. Its goal is to pick up the food waste and scraps leftover at restaurants and wherever else food is consumed and turn it into usable compost. Since growing food pulls nutrients from the soil, compost helps put some of those back in.

As far as the farm-to-table movement is concerned, this is the table-to-soil part at the end that could transform how people see the waste leftover after a meal, LaChance, now the sole owner of the business, said.

The company’s first major customer was Xanterra, the concessionaire running the lodges and restaurants in Glacier National Park. LaChance has now added Glacier Park Inc., Whitefish Lake Restaurant, Immanuel Lutheran Communities, Whitefish Middle School and Whitefish High School to her client list, with many other contracts pending.

And the actual composting still takes place in Columbia Falls, but instead of half an acre, LaChance is expanding to just under 2 acres to account for the bump in business.

To help explain the actual size of this operation, LaChance said her company picked up and composted 87 tons of food from the Xanterra properties alone last summer. And while there are many of them in the park, it’s still just one client producing food waste.

“From an average restaurant, I’m collecting about 150 gallons (of food waste) in the winter,” LaChance said.

But the main question most people ask is when the compost from all these tons of food will be available for purchase, she said. They’ll be happy to learn that LaChance and DIRT Rich plan to start selling the compost in March or April. It will only be available in bulk for the immediate future, but the company is “experimenting with bagging,” she said.

“I have purchased a mid-sized commercial sifter, turner, larger tractor, and a trailer for deliveries,” LaChance said. “We’re actually going to be able to function as a full-circle composting company.”

They had compost last summer, but LaChance didn’t want to start selling it without running it through some trials first. She worked in conjunction with the Good Seed Company and other gardeners and farmers, and the results have been as good or better than expected, LaChance said.

DIRT Rich is also working on rebranding, with a new logo and website expected in the next couple of months.

There may be some hiccups to work out, but LaChance said she’s been tackling them one by one, all in an effort to grow toward a less-wasteful future.

“We are selling our products, and our service is at it’s most efficient and available,” LaChance said.

For more information on DIRT Rich, visit the company’s Facebook page or call (406) 212-7535.