Middle GA business has diverted 100,000 pounds of trash into soil to help feed needy
Candace Neller-Harper started Secondhand Soil back in 2019 to help divert trash from the landfill and make an impact on the Middle Georgia community. In just over a year, she has grown from two customers to over 200 and have diverted over 100,000 pounds of trash. She also offers services like glass recycling and food boxes that residents can purchase for themselves or families in need.
Q: What is the mission of Secondhand Soil?
A: The main purpose of it is to divert trash from the landfill cut down on the methane that is released and to help combat climate change. It is a labor of love. I have diverted and converted the vast majority of the trash myself. I have had another employee for just two of the 15 months that I have been doing this.
Q: How does Secondhand Soil work?
A: You start with a little bucket on the counter and toss in your food scraps and other various things. You also get a basket for cardboard to mix with the various scraps that go to make the soil. You then choose whether you want weekly, biweekly or monthly pickups depending on your neighborhood or what you prefer. Once you accumulate 30 pounds of compost then you receive the soil back or you can choose to donate it to a local farm.
Q: What else goes into that relationship with the local farms?
A: I realized that the farms were growing things with the soil that we were donating, so I decided to buy that food and sell it back to our customers to complete that local food cycle. The boxes are typically like a mystery bag of things. Usually there are some eggs, microgreens, a homemade canned good like preserves or jam. We also offer other things through our website Secondhandsoil.org.
Q: What has it been like to see this business and organization grow?
A: I started back in 2019 with two customers who signed up for six months. So I knew I was at least locked in for that. But I never imagined we would grow so quickly. I now have over 200 customers and partner with over 15 different farms throughout Georgia. I diverted over 100,000 pounds from the landfill in a little over a year. So people were ready for a service like this in Middle Georgia. Secondhand Soil now serves three different Middle Georgia counties: Bibb, Houston and Monroe.
Q: What pushed you to start the business?
A: I saw a need in the community. There was a lack of recycling in the community but also there was a lack of infrastructure for recycling in the community. I have a daughter now and climate change really scares me. I want her future to look like my past.
Q: What is the ultimate goal for the business?
A: My long-term goal is to have compositing integrated into the trash pickup that residents already have at their homes. You cannot opt-out of the trash service, they give you the trash can and they charge you for it regardless of whether you want it or not. They bill you on your property taxes. So I want to integrate into that system so that you don’t have to pay extra for it.
Q: Are the food boxes available for those who do not participate in the composting and soil part?
A: When we first started it was only for our customers who participated in order to cut down on the number of trips and cut back on the carbon emissions. Now I have more routes so we offer it to everyone. We also partner with some local non-profits like Macon Blessings, which is run by my sister Mary (Moctezuma), to bring meals to families in need. You can spend $25 on a box. Those boxes are a little different. They contain two different types of meat and we try to provide two different types of meals.
Q: What is it like to be able to help families in need but also have a customer base that wants to be a part of helping those in need?
A: I was blown away at the response. We started that at Christmas to give people meals around the holidays but I have continued that because we continue to get orders every week. I grew up as one of those kids in a family that would have needed one of these boxes. So to be able to grow up and give back is crazy.
List of local farms that Secondhand Soil partners with:
- Watson Farms: Forsyth
- Blanche Farms: Bolingbroke
- The Yoder Family Farm: Barnesville
- Jean’s What-Nots: Tignall
- The Little Farm: Gray
- Vesterfield Farms: Cochran
- Comfort Farms: Milledgeville
- Sunshine’s Berry Farm: Fort Valley
- The Rocking Chair Ranch: Forsyth
- Backyard Garden Creations: Forsyth
- Justice Farm: Musella
- Dickey Farms: Musella
- Marview Farms: Arabi
- Sunberry Acres: Fort Valley
- Southern Swiss Dairy: Waynesboro
- Pearson Farm: Fort Valley
- Millstone Farm: Brooks