Company is first in Houston to offer this service to residential subscribers
Moonshot Compost, a Houston-based start-up that collects and consolidates food waste for composting, announces the launch of its state-of-the-art Diversion Dashboard. This proprietary platform allows Moonshot’s residential subscribers to access a personalized dashboard and makes it the first company in Houston to offer this service.
This dashboard, provided free for current subscribers, allows Moonshot residential subscribers to:
- view their personalized composting totals;
- relate their impact to everyday items saved;
- compare their progress with surrounding communities; and
- share their information on social media.
The purpose of this personalized reporting is to let subscribers measure composting progress and rally their community about the benefits of composting. For instance, the Diversion Dashboard includes total diversion amounts for each subscriber’s surrounding community and compares that total to other communities in the greater Houston area. Moonshot will begin releasing the Diversion Dashboard to Montrose subscribers during the first week of August, with weekly releases to the Heights, West University, Rice Military, Galleria, Midtown, Memorial, Garden Oaks and other communities to follow.
“We are thrilled to launch this technology-driven service for our residential subscribers on the first anniversary of starting our business,” says Joe Villa, co-founder and president. “We are driven to give both our residential and commercial subscribers value-added service at their fingertips with our Diversion Dashboard to help them understand how integral their actions are to creating a culture change in Houston around food waste diversion.”
Chris Wood, co-founder and president, notes that the company just completed its 12-week participation in cohort 3 of The Ion’s Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator, which provided the founders with invaluable insights into the company’s business model, through mentors and business leaders.
“We have always believed that you can’t change what you can’t measure,” says Wood. “Today’s consumers are smart, and they expect stellar service and transparent data. This type of platform is just the beginning, and we look forward to continue working with community leaders and businesses who share these values.”
Moonshot has offered the Diversion Dashboard to its commercial subscribers on a trial basis since the spring. Some of its commercial subscribers include Rice University, Houston Baptist University, The Awty International School, ConocoPhillips, Tacodeli, Snooze Eatery, Ostia and Amli Residential. The commercial dashboard provides three carbon equivalencies for the impact of the diverted food waste: comparisons to the relative impact of trees planted, miles un-driven, and pounds of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere.
Since beginning paid operations last July, Moonshot has weighed all the food waste diverted by its commercial and residential subscribers, with an eye toward using the collected data to inspire its employees and subscribers through enhanced reporting. As of this week, Moonshot has helped its subscribers divert nearly 198,000 pounds of food waste, with approximately 21,500 pounds coming from residential subscribers.
Landfills consist of up to 22 percent food waste, which release unhealthy levels of methane into the air. Composting provides the option to keep food out of the trash and eventually back into the earth.
The company has six employees, both full- and part-time, including Villa and Wood, and moved to new expanded headquarters in the Heights in February 2021.
In late June, Moonshot participated in the Ion’s recent Demo Day presentation as part of its Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerators, where Villa and Wood discussed how a digital platform can assist the City in meeting the goals outlined in Houston’s Climate Action Plan. The program also helped Moonshot prepare for additional conversations with investors during the second half of 2021.
“It’s been a wild ride for our first year with both challenges and big successes,” says Wood. “We believe companies and individuals in Houston want to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing their carbon footprint through actions like composting. The time is right for Moonshot and our technology to help people understand how their actions are helping the planet.”
For more information or to inquire about Moonshot Compost’s services, visit moonshotcompost.com.