Read more here »

In our summer series, Backyard Farmers, we’re talking trash — banana peels, coffee grounds, yard clippings, all that icky stuff most of us throw away without thinking. Organic waste makes around half of what cities send to their landfills. But that could change, as cities begin to embrace large scale composting programs. Before that can happen, CPR’s Megan Verlee reports the industry has to overcome some big hurdles first. More »

Kathryn Reichert, March 24, 2010 | Read the story here.

A Highland elementary school is discovering that one person’s trash also can be another’s fertilizer.

In an innovative partnership, parent Yael Nyholm struck a deal with a commercial composting company to pick up compost from Academia Ana Maria Sandoval Elementary for free in exchange for getting her neighbors to pay for their own composting pick up.

Waste Farmers, a commercial composting company, was able to get business in an area they hadn’t previously served. So far, 16 households have signed up. While Waste Farmers makes its rounds, it makes an extra stop for free at the school.

Read more here.

Read more about the award here:
www.denverchamber.org/Events.aspx?eventid=2190

Jennifer Ryan | Read the story here

DENVER – In our last story of our Starting Over series we decided to revisit a young entrepreneur who truly puts his passion to the test. He is a dumpster diver with a love for compost.

Running your own business can be a lot like running a marathon.

“You anticipate it being hard,” John Paul Maxfield said, “but you don’t realize how hard it is until you get to the 23rd mile.”

Maxfield is practically running on empty these days. He started collecting trash for cash about twelve months ago and has not stopped to smell the roses.

“My heads been down too long that I have not had a chance to look back at how far we have come,” Maxfield said.

He has added more interns, more recycling bins and more customers who are all willing to let him dig through their dumpster to see just how much waste was being wasted.

“You don’t realize how much you’re throwing away because it’s so easy and convenient to you,” Maxfield said.

It is a labor of love for Maxfield who cashed in his life savings to buy a truck and plenty of recycling bins in order to start his own company called Waste Farmers.

Maxfield says it has been both rewarding and unpredictable being his own boss.

“What you write your business plan on you will not do,” Maxfield said, “and what you raise money to do you won’t do.”

Maxfield’s original plan was to collect compost from trash bins outside local restaurants and retailers. That plan did not pay the bills. So he added another element, a waste analysis in which he dives in the dumpsters and picks through the trash in order to show restaurant owners how much recyclable material they are trashing and how much compost they are wasting.

Maxfield’s new business plan is finally taking shape.

“We have a long way to go but we just have to continue working hard,” Maxfield said.

It is the hard work that keeps him busy but it is his support group that keeps him in the race.

“It is kind of like running that marathon, people are on the sidelines cheering and you don’t realize how much you appreciate it when you are running,” Maxfield said.

Renee McGraw | Read the story here

John-Paul Maxfield lost his job at a private equity firm about four months ago. In any other year, he would have looked for another job. Instead, he has cashed out his IRA, traded the family Volvo for a pickup truck and is starting his own recycling business: Denver-based Waste Farmers LLC.

“The job market is dismal,” Maxfield said. “So I said, ‘you know what? It’s time to take a shot. Just do it.’”

Maxfield isn’t alone. The number of phone calls from would-be entrepreneurs to the Denver office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has more than doubled since last summer, according to spokesman Christopher Chavez.

“Call volume is up 100 percent from six to eight months ago,” Chavez said. “Before, we might have gotten 25 calls a day; we’re now at 50 or 60 a day. Our workshops through SCORE, their numbers are up 100 percent. In August or September, they maybe had 15 people; now they’ve got 30 or 40 people in a workshop.”

Businesses die during recessions, of course. But others are born, as laid-off workers and struggling business owners re-invent themselves.

“We’ve definitely seen a surge of inquiries from workers who were let go and are choosing to open their own businesses,” said Derek Woodbury, spokesman for the city of Denver’s Office of Economic Development.

So far, that hasn’t translated into an increase in business incorporations. Filings for trade names and various types of business formation fell by 11 percent in the second half of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. Filings in January, at 10,341, were down 7 percent compared with January 2008.

Business formation usually rises during high-layoff periods, said Michael Williams, a Denver-based attorney who handles business formation and incorporation.

“In the past, when a major employer in the area has laid off workers, we’ve seen several folks come through that want to set up businesses,” Williams said. “It remains to be seen whether that’s going to be the case in a downturn as severe as this, though.”

One good source of recent business for Williams, and other business lawyers, is existing entrepreneurs who want to establish sideline businesses to deal with the recession.

“I haven’t seen new clients come in any more often, but I’m seeing existing clients taking on different projects, and forming new entities to do that,” said Harmon Graves, a Littleton-based lawyer. “I just had a builder in who is now buying up distressed properties.”

Some folks who started a business during Colorado’s last recession, in 2002 and 2003, say they’re glad they did.

Rob Ridge and his wife, Lynne, opened English Tealeaves, a Parker cafe and online tea retailer, in 2002. At the time, Ridge was working as a vice president of marketing for a Swedish company, but he believed his job soon would be eliminated.

“We’re pretty dumb. We did it at the wrong time,” Ridge said, laughing.

He can afford to laugh. English Tealeaves is now successful enough — business grew 14 percent last year, Ridge said — that the company is selling its first franchises.

“One couple is very, very interested, but the big issue for them is financing,” Ridge said. “A lot of people had so much equity in their house [that is now gone]. When you go for a loan, the banks ask you all these questions about the business, but they’re really not that interested. What they’re interested in is what equity do you have, what savings do you have … in case you default.”

Tight credit is among the obstacles to starting a business now, said Chavez of the SBA.

“In the 20 years that I’ve been doing this, there have always been ups and downs,” Chavez said. “But right now you’ve got an even more difficult situation, because you’ve got a tightening credit market, you’ve got an economy that’s slowing and consumer confidence has dropped. The majority of the people we’re counseling right now, we’re probably advising them against starting a business, just because of the risk involved in the current economic conditions.”

Williams, the lawyer, agreed that there are challenges in the current economy. “But certainly it’s a major opportunity to take risks, at this moment,” he said. “A lot of things are cheaper than they’ve ever been or ever will be — advertising is cheaper, costs of assets are cheaper. Things are available now that weren’t available before. Sometimes people can outfit their whole business just through Craigslist.”

For Maxfield, who’s still looking for investors, there’s no time like the present.

He’ll use his own retirement savings — and the help of his wife, Carrie, a teacher — to launch Waste Farmers.

“I’d sure as heck rather invest in me than in the market,” Maxfield said. “A lot of great businesses in this country were started with one pickup truck, with one fruit stand. You can throw a bunch of money at something and figure out how to spend it, or you can just start and do it.”

John McFadden, owner of Craftsman Extraordinaire LLC in Denver, was in a similar position after being laid off from Qwest Communications International Inc. in late 2001.

He’d worked for the company for 33 years, ultimately becoming supervisor of a T1 line crew that served downtown Denver, including the Pepsi Center, the City and County of Denver, and Denver Public Schools.

After six months of sitting around at home, he dusted off his tools and hung a shingle as an independent carpenter and builder. Volunteer work through his Kiwanis club was especially helpful in generating referrals and word-of-mouth business.

Today, he earns nearly as much as he did at Qwest, but with far less stress and fewer hours, he said.

“It truly was the best thing I ever did,” McFadden said. “I wish I’d done it sooner.”

Read the full story here

Although John-Paul Maxfield lost his job at a private equity firm during the most severe economic recession of his lifetime, the 29-year- old has a different view than most who have also been looking for work in the midst of escalating unemployment.

This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Maxfield (pictured left) says. “In this recession, I saw an opportunity.”

After weeks of scouring a “dismal job market” in the fall of 2008 didn’t turn up any interviews, Maxfield tried a new approach: “I was writing my business plan at night and searching for work during the day.”

He was told he was crazy to start a business in such an economy, but Maxfield cashed in his retirement fund; traded his Volvo for a truck; and, by February ’09, opened Waste Farmers, a commercial recycling and composting business in Denver.

So far the operations are small—just Maxfield; his wife, Carrie, who is a third- grade teacher; and his business partner. Clients include hospitals, hotels, schools and the like. Maxfield not only wants to expand the business, but also change the way companies handle their waste, which often can be recycled rather than dumped in a landfill. He wants to make a difference.

Still, with Waste Farmers less than a year old, Maxfield’s entrepreneurial vision is lined with a little self-doubt about being his own boss.

Written by environmental specialist Paul Day | Read the story here

DENVER (CBS4) ― Serving up 1,000 meals per day once meant Colorado Academy produced more than a ton of landfill waste every week, until Alison Scalzo got involved.

“A lot of garbage should not come out of such a good community,” the sophomore said.

Scalzo encouraged her school to find a better way. So this fall, academy administrators turned to a company called Waste Farmers. With its guidance, the academy’s kitchen has reduced its waste output from 600 pounds per day to 10 pounds per week.

“Really surprised,” said Paul Worley, the chef who oversees the kitchen.

Worley explained almost everything now is recycled or composted. All the students get involved by sorting their discards at the end of the meal.

“I like to think that they’re pretty well-trained in what they’re doing,” said Scalzo as she watched third graders empty their trays.

Waste Farmers believes traditional waste should be treated as a valuable resource. Dark, rich compost soil is just by-product of the new program. Shrinking the amount of landfill waste is another big benefit.

“The methane gas that these landfills put off is worse for us than our car emissions,” Worley said.

Waste Farmers services do come at additional cost, but they’re offset by the reduced bills for trash hauling.

“From a budgetary standpoint, we’re not spending more this year than we were last year,” said Jesse Schumacher, Colorado Academy Director of Operations.

Only two things are still being thrown away in the kitchen — hair nets and latex gloves. Schumacher and Worley are studying ways to keep even them from being discarded.

The goal at the school is zero waste, but is it realistic? The answer is yes from the inspiration for program.

“It’s a challenge, I know, but the school can handle a challenge,” Scalzo said.